Allen R. Morris

Allen R. Morris
Allen R. Morris in his office 2015
Born	Allen Robert Morris (1954-04-23) April 23, 1954 (age 62) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Occupation	Producer/Director/Writer
Years active	1969–present
Spouse(s)	Melinda Baldwin (1991–present)
Children	Rachel Seitz Asher Allen Morris Kristin Huppe Sarah Elizabeth Dieter Hannah Claire Morris Noah Collins Morris
Website	http://www.belaymedia.com

Allen Robert Morris (born April 23, 1954), is a television producer/director/writer. His professional career began when he and his twin sister, as teenagers, provided the voices and operated puppets on a local children's television show, "Through Magic Doorways". This experience led to a job at a small market station in Lufkin, Texas, KTRE-Channel 9, owned by the Buford brothers of Tyler, Texas. His varied experiences there included sweeping the studio and running a studio camera; shooting and editing news film; learning production techniques on local television commercials; obtaining a 1st Class FCC Engineering license; and finally, directing the nightly newscast. Still in his teens, this was the first step on a professional journey across the globe.

Allen Morris was born in Dallas, Texas, the son of the late Robert Leonard Morris (August 29, 1920 – October 17, 2010) and Ora Lee (née Marlin, born May 9, 1921). He was born eight minutes before his sister Myra, who often says she gave Allen his first big push in the world, because she "was tired of being womb mates". Other siblings include an older brother (Dalton, born January 1, 1951) and a younger sister (Brenda, born April 22, 1956). The children grew up in Glen Oaks, then a new neighborhood of the Oak Cliff section of Dallas. Their family was one of the first to move in. The children attended Mark Twain Elementary, located directly across the street from the Morris' house.

It was like having an enormous playground in our front yard. A few blocks away were 'The Woods,' an undeveloped area where we neighborhood boys created bike trails in the hills among the cedar trees. Crystal Creek wound its way through the neighborhood, providing a place for all sorts of childhood adventures. We played Tarzan swinging from ropes tied to the oak trees, pretended to be explorers cutting fossils out of the quartz and limestone walls surrounding the creek, or went skinny-dipping in the large pond formed at the base of the 'Twin Falls.' It was a different time. The neighborhood was our private world, and our imaginations turned it into whatever we wanted it to be. Our parents never worried about their children's safety. It was a time when they didn't need to.

Morris' interest in television started as a child growing up during the Golden Age of Television. His earliest television memories are of Howdy Doody. At the young age of six, he paid attention to the Kennedy-Nixon debates when the networks pre-empted regular programming. He had nightmares about missiles from Cuba obliterating his world. Later, the coverage of the Kennedy assassination fascinated the nine-year-old to the point that he credits that tragic event with his becoming a lifelong "news junkie." Throughout the decade, television continued bringing the events of the world into his home – The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, Goldwater vs. Johnson, Vietnam, the Watts race riots in the summer of 1965, Martin Luther King, Bobby Kennedy, and one small step for man.