Morgan Brittany, born in Los Angeles, CA, was like most little girls and wanted to be an actress. She began her acting career as a child under the name Suzanne Cupito. Her big break came in Gypsy (1962), where she co-starred with her favorite actress, Natalie Wood. Morgan's career would continue to grow and would make a name for herself when she ...
[In 2012, reflecting on how her one-minute scene in The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980) changed her career] It's the search for Scarlett O'Hara and at the very end, I show up and take the hat off and it's the burning of Atlanta. I want to do that! Are you kidding me? That's the climax of the whole movie. I want to do this. I don't care about the money. The money doesn't matter to me. Here's what I wanted my agents to do: I wanted them to get me a separate card credit that says "And Introducing Morgan Brittany as Vivian Leigh". Best choice I ever made in my life! Best choice I ever made! Because of that role, when that movie came out, my picture was on the cover of every supplemental TV guide across the country: "Morgan Brittany as Vivian Leigh". People put a name to the face that they had seen for years on Ultra Bright, Levis and Ford commercials. They didn't know who I was, but now they did. That came to the attention of the Dallas (1978) people. It just domino-ed, and it really was meant to be!
#
Fact
1
Changed her professional name after she grew up (choosing "Morgan Brittany" after the storybook character), because she found herself typecast by her juvenile roles. "Suzie Cupito" got turned down out of hand for adult roles without even an audition; carrying the same resumé, Morgan Brittany was able to get auditions, and thus win acting jobs as an adult.
2
Alfred Hitchcock cast her in an uncredited role as a child pecked by birds outside a school in The Birds (1963). He cast her again the next year in Marnie (1964), but her scene was left on the cutting room floor.
3
She was hesitant about doing Dallas (1978), because she was being considered for feature films, such as An Officer and a Gentleman (1982) and 9½ Weeks (1986), and she was afraid that film producers wouldn't want to hire a television actress, since there was a sharp division between film and television actors at that time. However, she and her husband talked it out, and they decided that being on a top-rated TV show in a contract role was better suited for her, and so she agreed to take the role on "Dallas".
4
She graduated from California State University at Northridge with a degree in journalism.
5
Currently works as a contributor on Fox News. [2015]
6
Attended Grover Cleveland High School with Charles Martin Smith. They performed in school musicals and dramas.
7
Former Eileen Ford model in New York and Nina Blanchard in Los Angeles. Also was the spokesperson for many commercial companies such as "Ultra-Brite", "Camay", "Breck" and "L'Oreal Cosmetics". Was a model in NY with Rene Russo, Christie Brinkley, and other 70's supermodels.
Best remembered by the public for her role as "Katherine Wentworth" on the 1980's soap opera Dallas (1978).
10
Attended the 2006 Twilight Zone Convention at the Hilton Hasbrouck Heights, Hasbrouck Heights, New Jersey, August 12-13, 2006.
11
While at home on May 23, 2006, was startled by the sound of high-powered sports car careening out of control towards her. The Ferarri Testarossa was traveling down the winding Cornell Rd in Agoura Hills, California at a high rate of speed before losing control, flipping over, and landing in a horse coral owned by the actress. Two men died in the accident, one of them an off-duty officer with the CHP (California Highway Patrol) in charge of apprehending speeders on mountain roads. The actress was shaken, but not injured in the crash.
12
Her agent wanted her to turn down the role of Vivien Leigh in The Scarlett O'Hara War (1980) because the part was designated as a day player. She insisted on doing the role, believing that everyone would be waiting to see the actress playing Leigh. Sure enough, as Vivien Leigh, she was on the cover of countless TV supplements and magazines, and people now knew her name. It also brought her to the attention of producers of Dallas (1978), who cast her in her most famous role.
13
As an adult, she had trouble getting work in the early 1970s because producers were going for less pretty, more hippie-like, troubled youth. It all changed, she says, the night Charlie's Angels (1976) premiered on television. After that, she had no problems.