C.W. Morgan, who played Hank Loomis in Wes Craven’s original Scream, has died. He was 72.
Morgan died Aug. 30 in Los Angeles, according to a death certificate obtained by PEOPLE.
TMZ reported the news on Oct. 8, after his daughter and friends had already marked his death in tributes on social media.
“I miss you endlessly already,” his daughter, Renata Macfie, wrote in a Facebook tribute.
His Daughter Remembered Their Drives and His ‘Poorly Timed Jokes’
Alongside a childhood photograph of herself with her father, Macfie wrote, “I will carry on our Mulholland drives and our Starbucks outings. I’m grateful and lucky to have had you as my daddy.”
She also remembered the “poorly timed jokes” she had inherited from Morgan and addressed him by the family nicknames Guck and bubby. Her post ended with a playful insistence that she had finally won their argument over who loved the other more.
His friend Paul Codiga remembered Morgan as a devoted father, actor, friend and writer. In his own Facebook tribute, Codiga praised Morgan’s “perfect sentence structure” and his concern for his fellow citizens.
His Death Certificate Lists the Cause as Deferred
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PEOPLE reported that Morgan’s cause of death was listed as deferred, with the manner still under investigation. The certificate also indicated that no autopsy had been performed.
An LAPD spokesperson told TMZ that officers responded to a death investigation and that the death appeared to be from natural causes. Medical examiner records listed the location as a bathroom.
The Los Angeles Fire Department told TMZ that it had received a call about an unconscious adult man. He was not transported because the incident became a coroner’s case.
Hank Loomis Defended Billy in the Original ‘Scream’
In the 1996 film, Hank is the father of Billy Loomis, played by Skeet Ulrich. The lawyer arrives at the police station to defend his son as officers question Billy about the attacks in Woodsboro.
Billy is eventually revealed as one of the two killers behind Ghostface. He blames his family’s collapse on Hank’s affair with Maureen Prescott, the mother of Neve Campbell’s Sidney Prescott, and his own mother’s subsequent departure.
Morgan also appears in 2000’s Scream 3, which revisits Maureen’s past and its connection to the killings.
Morgan Also Voiced the Lead Character in ‘The Last Express’
Born Curtis Wade Morgan in Bisbee, Arizona, in 1954, Morgan also worked as a law clerk. His early screen credits included two 1991 episodes of NBC’s Midnight Caller and the 1992 television movie The Last of His Tribe.
He subsequently appeared in the Eddie Murphy film Metro and contributed voice work to Æon Flux. His final credited screen appearance was in a 2000 episode of Nash Bridges, Entertainment Weekly reported.
In the 1997 adventure game The Last Express, Morgan voiced Robert Cath, the American doctor controlled by the player. The mystery unfolds aboard the Orient Express in July 1914, as Europe approaches World War I.
The game’s original manual credits David Svensson with Cath’s filmed performance and Morgan with his voice. Live-action footage was transformed into animation for the finished game.
Creator Jordan Mechner documented the voice sessions in his production diary. He planned separate rehearsals for Morgan and Ingeborg Weinmann, who voiced Anna, so their characters could meet aboard the train.
In his June 30, 1994 entry, Mechner described the two performers as “solid” and wrote about the excitement of hearing characters previously confined to the page come to life.