DD Animal News: May 20, 2025: A beloved Hollywood veteran with a bite, Morris the alligator—best known for his memorable role in Adam Sandler’s 1996 comedy Happy Gilmore—has died of old age at a gator farm in southern Colorado. He was believed to be at least 80 years old.
Morris, who measured nearly 11 feet and weighed 640 pounds, passed away at the Colorado Gator Farm in Mosca, where he had lived since retiring from the entertainment industry in 2006.
“He started acting strange about a week ago. He wasn’t lunging at us and wasn’t taking food,” said a tearful Jay Young, owner of the Colorado Gator Farm, in a video tribute shared on the farm’s official Facebook page. “He had a happy time here, and he died of old age.”
From Backyard Pet to Big Screen
Originally discovered as an illegal pet in the backyard of a Los Angeles home, Morris began his acting career in 1975. Over the decades, he landed roles in Interview with the Vampire, Dr. Dolittle 2, Blues Brothers 2000, and made appearances on TV shows such as Coach, Night Court, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, often alongside famed wildlife expert Steve Irwin.
But it was Happy Gilmore that cemented his legacy. In the film, Adam Sandler’s character famously confronts Morris after his golf ball lands in the gator’s mouth—leading to one of the movie’s most iconic scenes.
Sandler’s Playful Farewell
On Wednesday, Sandler honored his toothy co-star in a heartfelt and humorous Instagram post. “You could be hard on directors, make-up artists, costumers—really anyone with arms or legs—but I know you did it for the ultimate good of the film,” he wrote.
Sandler recalled Morris’s diva-like demands, joking that the gator once refused to come out of his trailer unless provided with “40 heads of lettuce.” He reminisced fondly about sharing a candy bar on set and Morris’s “infectious laugh.”
“I will miss the sound of your tail sliding through the tall grass, your cold, bumpy skin,” Sandler wrote. “But most of all, I will miss your laugh.”
A Legacy That Lives On
Though his on-screen roles have ended, Morris’s legacy will continue at the Colorado Gator Farm. The team announced plans to preserve his body through taxidermy, “so that he can continue to scare children for years to come. It’s what he would have wanted.”
For fans of Happy Gilmore and animal lovers alike, Morris’s passing marks the end of an era—one where an alligator could steal a scene and a few hearts along the way.