Above: We see
Howard as Blanton in "Baghdad Cafe" (1990).
Click here
for video clips.
After his time on
"The Munsters Today" Howard went back to stage acting
mostly, but
appeared
in Whoopi Goldberg's award winning comedy series 'Baghdad Cafe'
alongside Jean Stapleton, as the moody bus driver Blanton. In
later
years Howard was romantically linked with Stapleton who he
had met on the set of Baghdad Cafe. Stapleton was the original choice to play Jessica Fletcher in
the hit TV series "Murder She Wrote".
Howard was
reported to be thrilled to be cast as Grandpa for "The Munsters Today",
having been a long time fan of the original series and Al Lewis. Lewis
spoke fondly of Howard's portrayal of Grandpa saying "he makes a great
Grandpa, almost as good as me".
Costume
designer Karen Swerling said in an interview with this website about
Howard Morton: "Of
all of the stars, the one that I became closest to was Howard Morton.
He was so gentle and sweet.
We became good friends".
She carried on to say.... "Howard
became Grandpa the minute he was hired. Even
when they were rehearsing (for the pilot episode), he insisted on
wearing a vampire cape that we found at a nearby Halloween shop.
He just wanted something to get him into character while we
completed his huge black with red satin cape for the show.
And he was very specific about his Dracula medallion. When I
finally found the right size for him, he gave me a big hug and told me
that I was the best. I
treasure those memories."
Read
Karen's full interview with me here.
Sadly, Howard died
suddenly in May 1997 of a stroke four days before celebrating his 72nd
birthday. Howard lived in a
cottage-style home in
Hollywood's Studio City.
His last
appearance on television was on a documentary (also featuring Lee
Meriwether and Jean Stapleton) called "This Is My Father"
which aired in 1998. I am currently trying to chase a copy of this
up. The documentary was the story of
director William Putch and his life's work. William Putch who died in
1983 was actress Jean Stapleton's first husband, and they operated a
summer theater, "the Totem Pole Playhouse", in Chambersburg,
for a number of years.
Click here
to visit Grandpa's character profile page.
Click
here to jump to the forum.
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HOWARD
MORTON MEMORIAL 
