Morris the Cat is the

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, sports team, university society, society, military unit, or brand, brand name. Mascots are als ...

for 9Lives brand

cat food Cat food is food specifically formulated and designed for consumption by cats. During the 19th and early 20th centuries, cats in London were often fed horse meat sold by traders known as Cats’ Meat Men or Women, who traveled designated routes ...

, appearing on its packaging and in many of its

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s since the 1970s.

Description

A large orange tabby tomcat, the character of Morris the Cat is "the world's most finicky cat", eating only 9Lives cat food and making this preference clear with humorously sardonic voice-over comments when offered other brands. Every can of 9Lives features Morris' "signature". Three different cats have played Morris the Cat. The original Morris was adopted in 1968 from the Hinsdale Humane Society, a

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

-area

animal shelter An animal shelter or pound is a place where stray, lost, abandoned or surrendered animals – mostly dogs and cats – are housed. The word "pound" has its origins in the animal pounds of the agricultural communities, where stray livestock w ...

, by professional animal handler Bob Martwick. An invention of the Leo Burnett advertising company where Martwick worked, Morris was featured in 58 television commercials which aired from 1969 to 1978. John Erwin provided the voice-over for the cat. Morris won two PATSY Awards (an award for animal performers in film and television) in 1972 and 1973. The original Morris died on July 7, 1978, in his native Chicago of old age. All cats to play Morris have been rescue animals, either from an

or a cat rescue. After receiving multiple contacts from individuals who claimed that they were the original owner of Morris, Bob Martwick chose not to reveal which shelter he obtained the second Morris from. After a yearlong search, Martwick selected the second Morris, who began appearing in commercials in 1979. The first two cats to play Morris lived with Martwick as pets. Morris's popularity continued into the 1980s, with the Leo Burnett Company orchestrating a mock presidential campaign for Morris in 1988. The current Morris lives in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with his handler, Rose Ordile. The Leo Burnett Company parted ways with 9Lives' corporate parent

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in 1994.

Other appearances

Morris has appeared in other media over the years. He debuted in the

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and film producer, producer. He is considered an enduring figure from the New Hollywood era, known for directing subversive and sat ...

film '' The Long Goodbye'' with Elliott Gould, and appeared in the movie '' Shamus'' with

Burt Reynolds Burton Leon Reynolds Jr. (February 11, 1936 – September 6, 2018) was an American actor most famous during the 1970s and 1980s. He became well known in television series such as ''Gunsmoke'' (1962–1965), '' Hawk'' (1966) and '' Dan Augus ...

and Dyan Cannon in 1973. Morris also appears as a "spokescat" promoting responsible pet ownership, pet health and pet adoptions through animal shelters. To this end, he has "authored" three books: ''The Morris Approach,'' ''The Morris Method'' and ''The Morris Prescription''. He was quoted at the 1993 "end of year" edition of ''People'' magazine which noted deaths of 1993 to which he quoted a simple "Meow" in honor of the death of his friend, fellow advertising mascot, the dog Spuds MacKenzie. In 2006, Morris was depicted as adopting a kitten, Li'l Mo, from a Los Angeles animal shelter, representing the first adoptee in a campaign known as Morris' Million Cat Rescue.

British advertising

When he first appeared in British television advertisements in the late 1970s, he was coincidentally voiced by Johnny Morris (then famous in the UK for his anthropomorphic character portrayals in the series '' Animal Magic''), which led many British viewers, unaware of the character's origins, to wrongly suppose that the cat had been named after Morris himself. British ads for 9Lives later featured the voice of Richard Briers.

References

External links

Hinsdale Humane Society
- About Morris the Cat * {{DEFAULTSORT:Morris The Cat Animal actors Male characters in advertising Food advertising characters Cat mascots Hinsdale, Illinois Mascots introduced in 1968 Individual cats in politics

Description

Other appearances

British advertising

See also

References

External links