DENVER (AP) 鈥� An alligator that appeared in numerous TV shows and films over three decades, most notably the 1996 Adam Sandler comedy 鈥淗appy Gilmore,鈥� has died at a gator farm in southern Colorado.
Based on his growth rate and tooth loss, Morris the alligator was at least 80 years old when he died, the Colorado Gator Farm said in a Facebook post Sunday. He was nearly 11 feet (3.3 meters) long and weighed 640 pounds (290 kilograms).
"He started acting strange about a week ago. He wasn鈥檛 lunging at us and wasn鈥檛 taking food,鈥� Jay Young, the farm鈥檚 owner and operator, said in a as he tearfully stroked Morris' head in an animal enclosure.
鈥淚 know it's strange to people that we get so attached to an alligator, to all of our animals. ... He had a happy time here, and he died of old age," he said.
Morris, who was found in the backyard of a Los Angeles home as an illegal pet, started his Hollywood career in 1975 and retired in 2006, when he was sent to the Colorado Gator Farm in the tiny town of Mosca. He appeared in several films, including 鈥淚nterview with the Vampire,鈥� 鈥淒r. Dolittle 2" and 鈥淏lues Brothers 2000." He also appeared on 鈥淐oach,鈥� 鈥淣ight Court鈥� and 鈥淭he Tonight Show with Jay Leno鈥� featuring the late wildlife expert Steve Irwin.
But his most famous role was in 鈥淗appy Gilmore,鈥� a film about a failed and ill-tempered hockey player who discovers a talent for golf. The title character played by Sandler confronts Morris after hitting a golf ball that ends up in the gator's mouth.
Sandler posted a tribute to Morris on Instagram on Wednesday.
鈥淲e are all gonna miss you. You could be hard on directors, make-up artists, costumers 鈥� really anyone with arms or legs 鈥� but I know you did it for the ultimate good of the film," Sandler wrote. "The day you wouldn鈥檛 come out of your trailer unless we sent in 40 heads of lettuce taught me a powerful lesson: never compromise your art.鈥�
The Colorado Gator Farm, which opened to the public in 1990, said it plans to preserve Morris' body.
鈥淲e have decided to get Morris taxidermied so that he can continue to scare children for years to come. It鈥檚 what he would have wanted," the farm posted on Facebook on Monday.
Thomas Peipert, The Associated Press
