Chick Morrison

Charles Pacific (Chick) Morrison was born on April 3, 1878 at Morrison, Colorado, USA, the son of Tom Morrison. Upon reaching adulthood Chick Morrison was a familiar figure throughout the western cattle country, being an expert cowboy as a trainer of animals, especially horses. Morrison often appeared in rodeos and riding contests, and at his Morrison home trained horses for trick and fancy riding as well as breaking wild horses. In 1909 the Selig company came to Morrison to film some of their famous "Broncho Billy" series of two-reel thrillers. Chick Morrison gained director Gilbert M. "Broncho Billy" Anderson's attention with his daring and expert horsemanship and his control over the animals, and Morrison was hired to double for the leading man in some of the more dangerous scenes. From that time on Morrison rapidly grew in prominence in the movie industry, moving to California with the Selig company. Morrison was rapidly advanced to playing leads, and his expertise as an animal trainer brought him into great demand for training animals for some of the largest pictures yet made. Later Morrison went to the Universal company, and then the Hal Roach company. While under contract to Hal Roach in Los Angeles Morrison was killed in production on June 20, 1924 when his favorite horse, Young Steamboat, fell over backwards upon him while a riding sequence was being filmed, killing Morrison instantly. Young Steamboat had been trained with difficulty in Morrison and had been known to be especially wild. Brother Pete Morrison was another prominent Hollywood actor, and brothers Carl and Bob, and father Tom, were also connected with the movie industry and lived in Los Angeles.