Morgan had recently returned from an engagement at the Belmont Hotel in Bermuda where he performed "murder mysteries." These were the whodunits in which the guests, for a night or a weekend, become part of the play, trying to unmask the killer. Morgan would write, direct and act in the productions, which demanded considerable improvisational skills.
David-Michael Kenney, his producer and longtime friend who heads DMK Productions, said: "He exerted powerful energy. He was very alive when he was on the stage." Kenney said Brian's other great forte was as a teacher and ''his ability to connect with people."
Morgan taught Kenney at Radnor High School. Another student was Tom Wilson. He was on the debate team and enjoyed Morgan's manner of teaching so much he followed Morgan's urging and auditioned for some plays. Wilson, who lives in Los Angeles, had a featured role in the hit movie "Back to the Future," playing Biff, the school bully and the tormentor of actor Michael J. Fox's character.
"He is the reason I am an actor. He truly is," said Wilson, "Without Brian's example of professionalism and dedication I never would have decided to become an actor and never would have gone as far as I have. People got excited about the theater when Brian was teaching them because he was so excited about the theater."
Wilson said that whether the student was a dramatics major or an athlete, ''no one could come away from Brian's classes without being excited and looking at the theater, and really the art, in a different way."
