Terence Morgan

Who was Terence Morgan?

Terence Ivor Grant Morgan was an English actor in theatre, cinema and television. He was the nephew of British character actor Verne Morgan. He played many "villain" roles in British film but is probably best remembered for his starring role in the TV historical adventure series Sir Francis Drake.

Terence Morgan was born in Lewisham, London, and started work as a shipping clerk at Lloyd's of London before winning a scholarship to RADA. After training at RADA, Morgan began as a repertory theatre actor. His career was interrupted by two years in the army in World War II before he was invalided out. In 1948 he joined the Old Vic Company alongside Laurence Olivier, and played the role of Laertes in the 1948 film of Hamlet. He was the first actor in such a role to get fan mail from teenage girls.

In his third role he played a support to Gregory Peck and Virginia Mayo in Captain Horatio Hornblower in 1951. In Mandy he played the insensitive father of a deaf girl and in Encore in 1951 he played a cad risking the life of his wife. In 1953 he again played a villain in Turn the Key Softly as a crook who gets his girlfriend a prison sentence for helping him in a burglary.