Garrett Morris

Actor • Comedian • Singer

Birth Date: February 1, 1937

Age: 86 years old

Birth Place: New Orleans, Louisiana

As a founding member of "The Not Ready for Primetime Players" on the ground-breaking sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" (NBC, 1975- ), Garrett Morris enjoyed mainstream notoriety even as he struggled with frustrations over his limited role on the program. After 10 years of training as a singer, musician and actor on the stages of New York, Morris came to "SNL" as an outsider, being the oldest and only African-American performer in the troupe. Although many of his contributions came in the form of broad stereotypes, he did manage to craft several memorable recurring characters, among them the President of the New York School for the Hard of Hearing, and ex-Mets baseball player, Chico Escuela. Overshadowed by the likes of John Belushi and Bill Murray, Morris left the show in 1980 along with the remaining original cast members. After a period of self-imposed exile, during which he overcame a serious drug addiction, Morris gradually returned with appearances on series such as "The Jeffersons" (CBS, 1975-1985) and in films like the horror satire "The Stuff" (1985). Later work found him regularly appearing on African-American-targeted sitcoms like "The Jamie Foxx Show" (The WB, 1996-2001). Despite his difficult and frequently unfulfilling tenure on "Saturday Night Live," Morris outlasted his detractors and was eventually abided a sort of fond reverence by later generations of performers and audiences who had grown up giddily quoting the childlike Escuela's famous catchphrase, "Base-a-boll been berry, berry good to me."