- During World War II Morris was a Navy fighter pilot assigned to the aircraft carrier USS Essex. He flew 57 missions in an F6F Hellcat and shot down seven Japanese aircraft, becoming one of the war's first aces. He finished with the rank of Lieutenant Commander and was a recipient of four awards of the Distinguished Flying Cross and two awards of the Air Medal.
- Buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. His brother, Richard, a B-17 pilot shot down during WWII is also resting there.
- Former Warner Bros. producer Mark Hellinger, who had started his own independent production unit at Universal-International, wanted Morris to star in his first picture, The Killers (1946). Warners wouldn't loan him out, so Hellinger cast the unknown Burt Lancaster in his first movie. It made him a star.
- Ironically, having been a real life war hero during World War II, his most remembered role was playing a cowardly lieutenant in Stanley Kubrick's 1957 classic Paths of Glory (1957).
- Morris was the father of three children.
- Second wife Patricia O'Rourke was a former Olympic swimmer and the sister of actress Peggy Stewart.
- His first wife, Leonora, later married producer Arthur Hornblow Jr..
- Brother-in-law of actress Peggy Stewart and Buck Young.
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