Barboura Morris

For the British art scholar, see Barbara Morris.

Barboura Morris (born Barboura O'Neill; October 22, 1932 – October 23, 1975) was an American actress and writer. She is most remembered for her roles in American International Pictures productions.

Barboura Morris
Morris in The Wasp Woman (1959)
Born	Barboura O'Neill (1932-10-22)October 22, 1932 Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Died	October 23, 1975(1975-10-23) (aged 43) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery
Alma mater	UCLA
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1956–1970
Spouse(s)	Monte Hellman ​ ​ (m. 1954; div. 1958)​ Donald Freed (m. 1965; div. 19??)[1]
Children	1

Early years

Morris was born Barboura O'Neill^[2] in Los Angeles. She graduated from UCLA, where she won the Best Actress awards two times. Shortly after, she joined the Stumptown Players, a 16-person stock theater company in Guerneville which was composed of fellow California university undergraduates and alumni.^[3][4]

Career

Acting

Fellow Stumptown player Roger Corman gave Morris a leading role in the cult classic Sorority Girl (1957). She appeared in many other low-budget movies for Corman, such as The Wasp Woman and A Bucket of Blood. Morris was often involved in his work with American International Productions. Notably, she starred opposite Charles Bronson in 1958's Machine-Gun Kelly and costarred with Peter Fonda in 1967's The Trip, written by Jack Nicholson.

Morris' final film role was as Anne Sullivan in Helen Keller and Her Teacher, a 1970 dramatization of Keller's life.

Morris' television credits include a 1956 episode of The Man Called X and a 1959 episode of The Thin Man.^[5]

Writing

In 1974, Morris penned an essay titled "Flight 553: the Watergate Murder" that was included in Steve Weissman's Big Brother and the Holding Company: the world behind Watergate. In the piece, Morris implicated Richard Nixon in the death of Dorothy Hunt in the United Airlines Flight 533 plane crash. Historian David Greenberg characterizes Morris' claims as one of the New Left conspiracy theories surrounding Nixon following Watergate.^[6]

The essay was planned as part of a full book to be called The Watergate Women, written by Morris and edited by Donald Freed.^[7]

Personal life

Morris' first marriage was to Monte Hellman, a producer of experimental theater who led the Stumptown company.^[8] The two met when Hellman hired Morris for Stumptown^[9] and were married from 1954 to 1958.^[10] Following her divorce, she had a brief romantic involvement with Roger Corman during the production of A Bucket of Blood^[11]

In 1965, Morris met playwright Donald Freed at the Los Angeles Art Theater.^[12] The couple were married that same year and had one son.^{[citation needed]} Morris and Freed collaborated as writers aligned with the New Left movement; Morris published under the name Barboura Morris Freed.^[13]

Death

Morris died in Santa Monica, one day after her 43rd birthday. She had been battling cancer, but died from a stroke.^{[citation needed]} She was buried in Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery.^[14]

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Rock All Night	Syl
	Teenage Doll	Janet
	Sorority Girl	Rita Joyce
	The Viking Women and the Sea Serpent
1958	Machine-Gun Kelly	Lynn Grayson
	Teenage Caveman	Young Tribe Member	Uncredited
1959	A Bucket of Blood	Carla
	The Wasp Woman	Mary Dennison
1961	Atlas	Candia
1963	X: The Man with the X-ray Eyes	Nurse with Young Patient	Uncredited
	The Haunted Palace	Mrs. Weeden
1966	The Wild Angels	Mother	Uncredited
1967	The St. Valentine's Day Massacre	Jeanette Landsman
	The Trip	Flo
1969	De Sade	Nun	Uncredited
1970	The Dunwich Horror	Mrs. Cole
	Helen Keller and Her Teacher	Anne Sullivan	Final film role

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1956	The Man Called X		1 episode
1959	The Thin Man	Amnesiac	1 episode