By Elia Esparza
On December 1, 2019, we lost one of Hollywood’s most talented actors. Her wit and biting sense of humor consistently hit its mark and always was received with roaring laughs. No easy fete as any comedic actor will tell you. It takes more than talent; it takes a comedic technicality not many possess. But, Shelley Morrison, 83, had it in spades.
I recently interviewed, Walter Dominguez, Morrison’s documentarian husband of 46 years, who opened up to us about his wife’s career and life.
On television, Morrison became famous on two of ABC’s all-time award-winning series, The Flying Nun (1967-1970) and Will & Grace (1998-2006 and returned for the 9th season in 2017). In The Flying Nun, Morrison portrayed the noble “Sister Sixto” starring alongside Sally Field, and she co-starred as the feisty maid from El Salvador, Rosario Salazar on Will & Grace, where her sharp-tongued banter exchange with her boss Karen (Meghan Mullally) made for some of television’s most memorable moments.
“Oh, how she took pride in portraying a strong, loving yet feisty Latina character,” said Dominguez about his wife’s work on Will & Grace. And indeed, according to several LGBTQ community members have stated that Shelley’s portrayal of the indomitable Rosario in a comedy series furthered the cause of social equity and fairness for LGBTQ people.
“Portraying Rosario was her greatest pride as an actress,” Dominguez said. “The character was originally written for a single episode, but it proved so popular in her interactions with Megan [Mullally], that she would go on to appear in 68 episodes during the NBC series’ eight seasons. Morrison was part of the original cast of Will & Grace from 1999 to 2006, becoming part of a cast that won a Screen actors Guild award for best ensemble in a comedy series.
After opting to retire, Morrison decided not to return to Will & Grace‘s series revival in 2017. In the reboot, Rosario is an unseen character, referred but never appearing. Rosario was killed off in the episode titled “Rosario’s Quinceañera”, where she dies of a heart attack off-screen.
How did Morrison feel about watching Rosario being written out of the show?
“Of course, her nerves were on edge ahead of time, but Megan [Mullally] had shared with her what they wanted to do… these are hard to do and too real, raw and extremely emotional,” Dominguez recalled. “It was hard for both of us to decide and it was strange watching it. There’s this photograph of Rosario in the funeral scene, but you know it’s of the character but it’s also really you. It was kind of like an out-of-body experience. The scene where Karen, a woman who acts like the entitled woman she is, finds herself in major denial. Karen is having a hard time accepting that Rosario is gone and now has to bid her goodbye.”
Despite the serious tone of the episode where Rosario dies, the cast managed to pull off great humor in that Karen wanted to make sure she planned a proper funeral inspired by a quinceañera. Karen’s eulogy had the cast and producers sniffling and crying. The fans also reacted to the heartstring-tugging episode with many emotions as attested by the hundreds of social media posts.
When asked how she felt about portraying Rosario, she once said, “Rosario is one of my all-time favorite characters. It is very significant to me that we were able to show an older, Hispanic woman who is bright and smart and can hold her own.” And in another interview, “Rosario reminds me a lot of my own mother,” Morrison once recalled. “She loved animals and children, but she would not suffer fools.”
Was it an instant chemistry connection between Shelley and Megan?
“From the very first scene,” stated Morrison in an interview. “It was one of those rare things where two actors were instantly connected as characters.”
Morrison would go on to reiterate how hard it was to work on a high-pressure show, lots of drama behind the scenes, and stuff you never see in the finished product.
“Still, they had a wonderful working relationship,” recalled her husband. “Megan [Mullally] has been so caring to me. She is going to sing at her memorial… how Shelley loved her voice… After 9/11 someone suggested that Megan sing a beautiful song, ‘Smile’ by Charlie Chaplin before the taping of the Will & Grace episode. And, for Shelley this moment stuck with her to the end.”
Upon being told of Morrison’s passing, Mullally issued this statement:
“Shelley Morrison has passed. she was such an integral and important part of my experience at Will & Grace and became a friend in the intervening years. she was loving, strong, supportive, and kind. she and her husband Walter Dominguez had a wonderful, loving, and inspiring 46-year marriage. he was always by her side. please put him and their children and grandchildren in your thoughts. I will miss you, Shelley. Thank you for the years of partnership and for your friendship and support. Te amo, mami,” Mullally penned. “Morrison’s passing is truly a loss to the Will & Grace cast and the viewers who loved Rosario. We hope the show finds a way to honor her memory before it ends.”
Morrison packed several lifetimes into her 64-year acting career. Not many can say they’ve worked with just about every major leading man in Hollywood from Gregory Peck to William Holden to Anthony Quinn and many others.
“Shelley never forgot the best advice William Holden ever gave her. For example, if there is one camera for the close up for another actor, many of those actors don’t show up. Holden told her to always show up and for her to come in costume to give that other actor the respect,” recalled Dominguez.
“Shelley had great respect for her fellow actors and the crew. She learned about the trade from them. She always picked up her wardrobe… ‘don’t just leave it laying on the floor’, be respectful of the people who pick up after actors. And, the same for props… she always treated other people’s positions with respect. She was especially conscious of their jobs… she’d sit with editors and watch them and learn from them. It made her a better actor.”
During the 1980s and early ’90s, Morrison wasn’t pursuing acting as much. “She had started at a very young age, producing theater, west coast premieres of Broadway productions,” Dominguez stated.
“In the early ’60s, Shelley and Tom Seldon bought a theater on Vine Street in the heart of Hollywood and eventually sold it to Steve Allen. After that, she became a ‘utility’ player, as they say.”
The daughter of Spanish Sephardic immigrants, Morrison was born on October 26, 1936, in the Bronx, New York. There is a street sign at 159th Street and Grand Concourse Boulevard as part of the Bronx Walk of Fame, a testament to how beloved she is to her childhood stomping grounds. While raised in the Bronx, at a young age she moved to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. She is an alumnus of Los Angeles City College, where she began her stage career, becoming one of the city’s first female stage producers.
As far as politics is concerned, Morrison reprised the role of Rosario in 2016 when the cast of Will & Grace reunited for a short YouTube sketch supporting Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential elections. The overwhelming success of this one-off episode proved to be such a hit that it prompted NBC to bring back the series for a new season in 2017. Morrison did not to partake because she had officially retired from acting completely.
The thing that Shelley wanted to most accomplish was to be encouraging in some way to all people, especially women and girls of color. There was never a woman Shelley met that could not relate to her role as Rosie, who gave her boss Karen as much back as she got. Shelley and her character became a loveable symbol of resistance and dignity for many.”
–Walter Dominguez
Another character that Morrison really connected with is Sister Sixto from The Flying Nun, and maybe it was because during the taping of this show, her father was sick after a massive stroke and he couldn’t move or talk. “Her mom would stay all day by his side,” Dominguez recalled, “and whenever Shelley wasn’t working, she was also there for him.” And, that pretty much is who Morrison was, pro all the way, no matter what personal crisis she was experiencing.
“She loved working with Sally [Field] because she could instinctively do comedic acting, which is really hard. Shelley loved physical comedy, and modeled her Sister Sixto after her Aunt Rosa, who was generous and funny when speaking with her mangled English,” added Dominguez.
Morrison’s dozens of credits include many TV shows: Murder She Wrote, L.A. Law, Home Improvement, General Hospital, and Columbo. Hands down, her best-known work was on the long-running Will & Grace. Her film credits include Funny Girl, Troop Beverly Hills, and Fools Rush In with Salma Hayek. Early in her career, she landed roles in iconic movies like Divorce American Style, and How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life.
Morrison had contracts with Universal and Columbia and they kept wanting to test her for all different types of characters. After she was cast in The Flying Nun, she worked non-stop for years. It was only in the late ’90s when Morrison really connected with spirituality. “She was at a crossroads,” said Dominguez.
“She was 50 years old and the parts being offered were of maids or mothers of gangbangers. She didn’t want to do those anymore and she considered retiring. But some sage advice from the Lakota Sioux leader Bear Heart Williams opened her up more and it was a few days later when she was cast as Rosario in Will and Grace.”
It was during this time that Morrison really tapped into her spirituality. “Shelley and I found ourselves attracted to the timeless spiritual traditions of the Sioux,” explained Dominguez.
The powerful reverence for nature and the philosophical simplicity of it resonated with me,” she said once in an interview. “…That every living thing is sacred, and it matters how you are with every living thing. There is the wisdom that all parts of Mother Earth are to be protected and honored.”
-Shelley Morrison
From their friendship with the Native elder Bear Heart, Shelley and her husband adopted young people who were in need of emotional support and guidance. “Bear Heart conducted the adoption ceremony in the traditional native way,” said Dominguez. “We were like Godparents and mentors for them.”
What were some of the obstacles she encountered in her career?
“Like most actors with dark skins, who have a certain look, in the end, she got to play a lot of ethnic parts,” stated Dominguez. “There are other kinds of stereotyping, i.e., if you’re really great at playing mothers, then suddenly casting people only want to give you these types of roles.”
Like Morrison would say, “…Choose roles that you really connect to, and sometimes you have to turn down roles that don’t hold a certain standard.”
Shelley Morrison leaves a legacy comprised of beloved roles and if you ask her husband what are some things that would surprise her fans?
“I think her human qualities as a person. Those qualities came through her work, and that’s what people remember. She cared about people. Connected with them, and oh how she loved to hear their stories—establishing that human connection, and consequently, reporters always adored her.”
Another thing her husband revealed is that “Shelley had cojones! She wasn’t afraid to stand up for herself. One time she marched right up to some network bigwig and said, ‘You’re not paying me enough.”
Her best advice?
“Stand up for yourself… find the humor and that’s a saving grace in this world where there is so much misery and sad things happening. We always have to find the humor in everything. Don’t be afraid to laugh at yourself.”
And, to young actors working their way through the maze of film and television, her advice?
Morrison was devoted to her craft, and her work reflects how serious an actor she was and how she never cut corners. “These are important things young actors need to know,” Dominguez recalled. And, she never tired of telling them:
Be informed. Educate yourself as much as possible. Further your craft, and the more well-read you are, the better the actor you become. Be a part of it, don’t insulate yourself.”
-Shelley Morrison
To honor her friend and co-star, Megan Mullally will sing “Smile” at Morrison’s memorial on February 2, 2019, at 5 PM at the Ambassador Auditorium in Pasadena, CA.