Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 160

Paytasme Vnllaioa Became a Kiimg "I like villains the roles are juicy" BY HARVEY PACK King Features Syndicate Daytime TV viewers, especially those who watch NBC's "The Doctors," had quite a surprise if they attended the New York production of the play "Crown Matrimonial." The drama, imported from England, concerns the plight of the British royal family when Edward VIII was forced to abdicate rather than give up the woman he loved. On stage, along with Eileen Herlie as the queen mother and George Grizzard as the king, was Patrick Horgan playing the difficult role of the Duke of York, the king's brother who must face up to the awesome responsibility of becoming King George VI. In one of the play's most touching moments Horgan breaks down and cries when he realizes he will be king; and ladies who have watched Horgan as the often unpleasant Dr. John Morrison on "The Doctors" may have found this display of emotion out of character. "Dr.

Morrison would never cry," said Horgan, who even after a dozen years in the United States still maintains the exact level of British accent Americans have always found fascinating. "For some reason, Dr. Morrison is really quite unsympathetic. almost a villain, and I know why. You see, in daytime TV, if a character has no confidante mother, wife nobody to explain away emotions, that person is isolated by the writer and becomes mean.

All Dr. Morrison needs is a friend and he'd be a splendid fellow." Patrick Horgan is a splendid fellow. A Joyce scholar, his most recent accomplishment on that highly intellectual level was a 70 Patrick Horgan of 'The Doctors' breakdown iA "Finnegans Wake" in which Horgan mathematically proved his own theory on the times when the many events recorded in the work took place. "It was great fun doing it," he said of his published theory, entitled "Alp." "I like villains the roles are juicy. I think I'm perfect for all the parts they used to write for George Sanders or in a bit leas villainous mold, Michael Rennie.

But, with both of them gone, writers are no longer creating roles for them." He has been Dr. Morrison for the past three years Detroit Free Press.