Actor Greg Morris, who played quiet, efficient electronics expert Barney Collier in the "Mission: Impossible" television series and recently battled brain cancer, has died at age 61.
Morris was found dead Tuesday at home, a spokeswoman for the Clark County Coroner's Office said. The cause of death was not immediately known.Morris, who had fought brain cancer the past few years, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal in May that he was cancer-free.
Morris was one of the first black actors to star in a hit series during the 1960s, playing a technical wizard on "Mission: Impossible," which ran from 1966-1973.
"My seven years on that show were seven of the most fun years of my career," he recalled.
But he walked out of the new movie version after watching only 40 minutes.
"It's an abomination," he said of the Tom Cruise film, which did not feature any of the TV series' cast.
Born Sept. 27, 1934, in Cleveland, Morris went to Hollywood in the early 1960s after some minor stage experience in Seattle. He had guest roles on series including "Dr. Kildare," "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "The Twilight Zone" before being cast in "Mission: Impossible."
Morris played the part of an electronics expert who helped an elite team of agents usually involved disrupting the activities of various small foreign powers seeking to create problems for the free world.
Morris came to Las Vegas in 1979 to film the television series "Vega$," in which he played Lt. David Nelson. He liked the city so much he decided to stay.