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David Mark Morrissey is an English actor who portrayed The Governor in AMC's The Walking Dead. He was part of the series main cast for Seasons 3 and 4. He appeared as a guest in Season 5.
Early Life
Morrissey was born in the Kensington area of Liverpool, the son of Joe, a cobbler, and Joan, who worked for Littlewoods. He was their fourth child, following brothers Tony and Paul, and sister Karen Lane. The family lived at 45 Seldon Street, in the Kensington district of Liverpool. For National Museums Liverpool's Eight Hundred Lives project, Morrissey wrote that the house had been in his family since around the turn of the 20th century. His grandmother had been married there and his mother was born there. In 1971, the family moved to a larger, modern house on the new estates at Knotty Ash, and Seldon Street was later demolished.
As a child, Morrissey was greatly interested in film, television and Gene Kelly musicals. After seeing a broadcast of Kes on television, he decided to become an actor.[1]At his primary school, St Margaret Mary's School, he was encouraged by a teacher named Miss Keller, who cast him as the Scarecrow in a school production adapted from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz when he was 11 years old. Keller left the school soon after, leaving Morrissey without encouragement. His secondary school, De La Salle School, had no drama classes and was the sort of place where Morrissey thought the fear of bullying dissuaded pupils from participating in lessons. On the advice of a cousin, Morrissey joined the Everyman Youth Theatre. For the first couple of weeks, he was quite shy and did not join in the workshops. When he eventually participated, he appeared in the youth theatre's production of Fighting Chance, a play about the riots in Liverpool. He went to the theatre on Tuesday and Wednesday nights.
By the age of 14, Morrissey was one of two youth theatre members who sat on the board of the Everyman Theatre. Ian Hart, with whom he had been friends since the age of five, was one of his contemporaries, as were Mark and Stephen McGann and Cathy Tyson. Morrissey became friends with the McGann brothers, who introduced him to their brother Paul when Paul was on a break from studies at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA). When Morrissey was 15 years old, his father developed a terminal blood disorder. He was ill for some time and eventually died of a haemorrhage at the age of 54 in the family home. After leaving school at the age of 16, Morrissey joined a Wolverhampton theatre company, where he worked on sets and costumes.
Involvement In The Walking Dead
Morrissey joined the cast of The Walking Dead for its third season in 2012, as the Governor, a major villain from the graphic novel upon which the series is based. Morrissey read the prequel novel Rise of the Governor to gain insight into the character and his motivations.
After the Walking Dead
After David's portrayal of Philip Blake in The Walking Dead, David went on to perform in many Movies/TV shows:
- The Driver as Vince McKee (2014)
Other Works
TV Shows
- One Summer as Billy Rizley
- Cause Célèbre as George Bowman
- Screenplay: Available Light as Marcus
- The Widowmaker as Rob
- The Storyteller: Greek Myths as Theseus
- Screenplay: Clubland as Judd
- Screen One: Black and Blue as DC Norman Mills
- Framed as Sergeant Lawrence Jackson
- Between the Lines as Inspector Dilke
- The Knock as Gerry Birch
- Finney as Finney
- Devil's Advocate as Matthew Salt
- Into the Fire as Michael Rise
- The One That Got Away as Andy McNab
- Shakespeare Shorts: Julius Caesar as Brutus
- Out of the Blue as DS Jim "Lew" Llewyn
- Holding On as Shaun Southerns
- Out Mutual Friend as Bradley Headstone
- Screen One: Big Cat as Leo
- Fanny and Elvis as Rob Dickson
- Pure Wickedness as Frank Healy
- Linda Green as Pete Jones
- Clocking Off as Franny Rothwell
- Murder as Dave Dewston
- Out of Control as Mike
- This Little Life as Richie MacGregor
- State of Play as Stephen Collins
- The Deal as Gordon Brown
- Blackpool as Ripley Holden
- Viva Vlackpool as Ripley Holden
- Cape Wrath as Danny Brogan
- Sense and Sensibility as Colonel Brandon
- Doctor Who as Jackson Lake
- Red Riding as Maurice Jobson
- U Be Dead as Dr Jan Falkowski
- Mrs. Mandela as Major Theunis Swanepoel
- Five Days as Dl Mal Craig
- Agatha Christie's Poirot as Colonel John Arbuthnot
- Thorne as Dl Tom Thorne
- South Riding as Robert Carne
- The Field of Blood as Murray Devlin
- London's Burning as Borough Commandel Campbell
- Richard II as Northumberland
- True Love as Adrian
- The 7.39 as Carl Matthews
- The Driver as Vince McKee
Filmography
- Drowning by Bumbers as Bellami
- Out of Town Traveller
- Robin Hood as Little John
- Waterland as Dick Crick
- Under
- Being Human as Cyprian's Man
- The Commisioner as Murray Lomax
- Hilary, and Jackie as Kiffer Finzi
- The Suicide Club as Henry Joyce
- Some Voices as Pete
- Born Romantic as Fergus Greer
- Captain Corelli's Mandolin as Captain Gunther Weber
- Spyhole as Bill Miller
- Butterfly World as Father
- Girl with a Pearl Earring as Van Leeuwenhoek
- Stoned as Tom Keylock
- Derailed as Sam Griffin
- Basic Instinct 2 as Dr Michael Glass
- The Reaping as Doug Blackwell
- The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep as Captain Hamilton
- The Other Boleyn Girl as Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk
- Is Anybody There? as Dad
- Dont Worry About Me as Commentator
- Nowhere Boy as Bobby Dykins
- Centurion as Bothos
- Cooked as Dan (Lobster) (Voice only).
- Gee Gee as Michael
- Blitz as Harold Dunlop
- Earthbound as Bill
- Welcome to the Punch as Thomas Geiger
- Something for the Weekeend as Writer and Producer
- A Secret Audience as Director
- Bring Me Your Love as Director and Writer
- Sweet Revenge as Director
- Passer By as Director
- Don't Worry About Me as Director and Co-Writer
- CAST in Beirut as Director
- Thorne as Executive Producer
Performances
- WCPC as PC Simon
- Jug as Matt Bradbury
- Le Cid
- Twelfth Night as Sebastian
- Ghetto as Giorgio
- The Cabinet Minister as Valentine White
- King John as Bastard
- Henry VI, Parts 1, 2, and 3 as Vernon
- Edward IV as Duke of Clarence
- Richard III as Duke of Clarence
- The Plantegenets as Vernon/Duke of Clarence
- Peer Gynt as Peer Gynt
- The School of Scandal as Stephen
- Much Ado About Nothing as Claudio
- Three Days of Rain as Pip/Theo
- In a Dark Dark House as Terry
- Macbeth as Macbeth
David has voiced in several radio broadcasts such as:
- As You Like It as Orlando
- The Trials and Tribulations of Armitage Shanks as Armitage Shanks
- Small Earthquake as Mike
- Wild Things! as Robert
- Shut Eye as Billy Rucker
- Hold Back the Night as Billy Rucker
- Becket as Becket
- Kermode and Mayo's Film Review as Himself.
David has narrated in a few motion pictures such as:
- Zero Hour
- Britain's Boy Soldiers
- Who Do You Think You Are?
- The Boy That Michael Jackson Paid Off
- Skint
- Taking Liberties
- Seaside Rescue
- Catching Britain's Biggest Thieves
- Born to be Different
- Coastline Cops
- Hannah: The Girl Who Said No to a New Heart
- Icarus at the Edge of Time
- Agony & Ecstasy
- Around the World in 60 Minutes
- Lord Sugar Tackles Football
- The Corrie Years
- "Autobiography" written by Morrissey. (Audiobook Narration)
Trivia
- Morrissey is the great grandson-in-law of the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud.[1]
References
- ↑ Cairns, Bryan. The Official Magazine (Issue 2) Bad To The Bone? (December 18, 2012)