Trivia

On the DVD commentary for Young Frankenstein (1974), Mel Brooks says that his two favorite scores from Morris are for that particular film and The Elephant Man (1980).

Starting with The Producers (1967), Morris was the composer for every film directed by Mel Brooks until Life Stinks (1991). He also scored the Brooksfilms productions of The Elephant Man (1980), To Be or Not to Be (1983) and The Doctor and the Devils (1985).

Morris attended the Jordan Conservatory in Indianapolis, the University of Washington, the new School for Social Research, and the Julliard School of Music.

Morris studied piano with Alfred Mirovich and conducting and composing with Victor Kolar. Morris debuted as a concert pianist with the Evansville Philharmonic.

Morris composed a musical version of "How Green Was My Valley in 1966 under the title "A Time for Singing." Unfortunately it was not successful.

John Morris is also the composer of the score for the four part PBS mini-series, "The Scarlet Letter" (1979).

Had two children: his son Evan, who died in 2014 and daughter Bronwen.