{"id":251509,"date":"2025-05-22T03:49:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-22T03:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/morris-the-movie-star-alligator-who-appeared-in-happy-gilmore-dies-of-old-age\/"},"modified":"2025-05-22T03:49:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T03:49:11","slug":"morris-the-movie-star-alligator-who-appeared-in-happy-gilmore-dies-of-old-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=251509","title":{"rendered":"Morris, the Movie Star Alligator Who Appeared in ‘Happy Gilmore,’ Dies of Old Age"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Based on his growth rate and tooth loss, the 640-pound gator was estimated to be at least 80. He starred in movies and TV shows between 1975 and 2006<\/h2>\n
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Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

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After starring in numerous movies and television shows, Morris retired in 2006 and lived out his final days at the Colorado Gator Farm.
\n RJ Sangosti \/ MediaNews Group \/ The Denver Post via Getty Images<\/span>
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Morris, the alligator who starred in Happy Gilmore<\/em><\/a> and numerous other movies and TV shows, has died.<\/p>\n

In an announcement<\/a> from the Colorado Gator Farm, where the beloved 640-pound reptile had lived for the last two decades, caretakers say the cause of death was \u201cold age.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe started acting strange about a week ago. Wasn\u2019t lunging at us and wasn\u2019t taking food,\u201d says Jay Young, the farm\u2019s owner and operator, while tearfully petting Morris\u2019 head in a video posted on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Morris was nearly 11 feet long at the time of his death, according to another\u00a0post<\/a> the Colorado Gator Farm shared on Facebook. Based on his growth rate and tooth loss, Young estimates the gator was at least 80 years old.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we knew this was inevitable, we are very saddened by his passing,\u201d the Colorado Gator Farm writes.<\/p>\n

Morris was rescued from a Los Angeles backyard, where he was being kept as an illegal pet. He began his prolific career in 1975 and kept working until his retirement in 2006. His TV and film credits include Interview With the Vampire<\/em>, Dr. Dolittle 2<\/em>, Blues Brothers 2000<\/em>, \u201cCoach,\u201d \u201cNight Court\u201d and \u201cThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno,\u201d reports Thomas Peipert\u2009of the\u00a0Associated Press<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But he\u2019s perhaps best known for Happy Gilmore<\/em>, the 1996 comedy starring Adam Sandler as a down-on-his-luck hockey player who discovers his powerful golf swing. After Gilmore hits a shot in a tournament, Morris grabs his golf ball with his mouth. Gilmore confronts the alligator.<\/p>\n

\u201cGive me my ball! Give it here!\u201d he shouts<\/a>, while waving his golf club in the alligator\u2019s face.<\/p>\n

Morris responds by snapping his jaws a few times. After Gilmore tries unsuccessfully to grab the ball from the alligator\u2019s gaping mouth, he sees the creature is missing one eye. Gilmore realizes it\u2019s the same gator that bit off the hand of his mentor, Derick \u201cChubbs\u201d Peterson (Carl Weathers).<\/p>\n

When Morris sprints into a nearby pond, Gilmore follows. After a brief tussle, Gilmore retrieves his ball from the gator\u2019s mouth and holds it above his head as the crowd cheers.<\/p>\n

Later, he presents the alligator\u2019s head to Chubbs, who is so shocked he falls backward through an open window to his death.<\/p>\n

On May 14, Sandler posted a\u00a0tribute<\/a> to Morris on Instagram.<\/p>\n

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\u201cYou could be hard on directors, make-up artists, costumers\u2014really anyone with arms or legs\u2014but I know you did it for the ultimate good of the film,\u201d the actor wrote in a caption accompanying a still from the movie. \u201cThe day you wouldn\u2019t come out of your trailer unless we sent in 40 heads of lettuce taught me a powerful lesson: Never compromise your art.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cI will miss the sound of your tail sliding through the tall grass, your cold, bumpy skin, but, most of all, I will miss your infectious laugh.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sandler is working on a sequel to the film, called Happy Gilmore 2<\/em><\/a>, which will be released on Netflix in July. Morris does not appear in the new film, since he died in the first movie. But his memory will live on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have decided to get Morris taxidermied so that he can continue to scare children for years to come,\u201d the Colorado Gator Farm writes on Facebook. \u201cIt\u2019s what he would have wanted.\u201d<\/p>\n

The farm is located in Mosca, a small town roughly 200 miles southwest of Denver. Situated in the San Luis Valley, the farm is home to roughly 300 alligators, as well as snakes, lizards, crocodiles and tortoises, per CBS News Colorado<\/a>\u2019s Logan Smith.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s parents,\u00a0Erwin and Lynne<\/a>, started the operation as a tilapia farm\u00a0in the late 1970s<\/a>. They brought in baby alligators to clean up the dead fish, but as the reptiles grew, visitors began showing up to see them. Today, the farm serves as a refuge for unwanted, illegal and abused reptiles.<\/p>\n

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