Howard Morris

## Howard Francis Morris

### Occupation

* Assistant Director of Collection Development at the Central Manhattan Public Library
* Assistant

## Appearances

### Portrayed by

Michael Cyril Creighton

**Howard Morris** is a recurring character in Season 1, Season 2 and a main character in Season 3 of *Only Murders in the Building*. He lives in Apartment 3C of the Arconia with a notable love for cats.

He is portrayed by Michael Cyril Creighton.

## History

### The Crucible

In junior high, he was cast as John Proctor in *The Crucible*, a step on his way to becoming an actor, his dream. But after his mother saw the performance, she said his stage voice embarrassed her and she never wanted to hear it again,

### Memorial for Tim Kono

When Tim Kono was found dead in his apartment from an apparent suicide, Howard attended the memorial service for him in the lobby of the Arconia. During the memorial, Oliver, Mabel, and Charles noticed him crying and asked if he was close with Tim. He said no, that his cat, Evelyn, had died. Word spread around the memorial and people were more upset about Evelyn than they were about Tim.

### Suspect Line-Up and Attempted Interrogation

Oliver did a line-up of all the suspects to try to eliminate some possibilities. During the line-up, Oliver reviewed all the complaints Howard had made against Tim. At the end, he labeled Howard the top suspect.

Mabel and Charles visited Howard in the hopes of getting a confession. They found his apartment a mess and he said he didn't want to touch anything of Evelyn's because it helped him pretend she was still around. They asked him about Tim and Evelyn dying the same night. He said that he'd heard Tim got fired for losing a client a lot of money. Howard never liked Tim because Tim would leave his window open, but then get mad when Evelyn came for a visit. When Charles got a spontaneous nosebleed from nerves, Howard fainted and hit his head. When he woke up, he explained that he faints at the sight of blood. When Charles asked him about the cat in his freezer and Howard said he was getting a toxicology report done because he believed Tim poisoned Evelyn and then killed himself.

### Proposed Evictions

Due to the podcast, several residents of the building complained about Mabel, Charles, and Oliver violating their privacy. As a result, Bunny held a meeting where they discussed evicting the three of them. When Bunny called for a vote, Howard said he was actually grateful to them because their work might lead to his answer. The tox report had come back on Evelyn and she was poisoned with the same drug used on Tim. Bunny reminded Howard that he had six complaints against him and he should keep his head down and his hand up.

### New Cat and Trio's Arrest

Howard got on the elevator one day and showed Uma and Bunny his new cat, whom he'd named Evelyn Seven or Sevelyn. They fawned over her and ignored Charles, who was lying on the floor, believing Charles had gone on a bender.

### Bunny's Last Day

On Bunny's last day as board president, the board held a meeting, but really, it was a retirement party for Bunny. Bunny tried to go about business as usually, but Nina insisted she'd take care of all those issues at the next meeting. When Bunny brought up the unauthorized renovations Amy Schumer was making to the penthouse, Howard said whatever she was doing couldn't be worse than what Sting did in there. The disagreement over what to do led to a fight between Nina and Bunny while the rest of the board watched.

### Missing Painting

After Bunny's death, Howard and Uma went into Bunny's apartment to retrieve a Rose Cooper painting Bunny owned, which Uma was meant to take to get appraised. When they entered the apartment, they found that the painting was missing. They searched the apartment, in case it had simply been moved, but didn't find it.

### Bunny's Memorial

Howard came to Charles' place to tell the trio about the memorial Uma was throwing for Bunny in her apartment. Charles wanted to skip it, as attending would make them look guilty. Howard said that was even more reason to attend, as they could look for the person who looked guiltier than the three of them.

At the party, Howard hinted that he didn't like Nina, the new board president, but refused to elaborate when the trio asked why. All he would say that was that Nina was much meaner than Bunny.

### Confession

Howard told Mabel he had some "hot goss" about Nina he wanted to share with them. He came over to Charles' apartment, where he told them that he'd lied before about getting a black eye from his cat. Instead, he'd gotten it from Nina, whom he described as violent.

### Blackout

During a blackout, Howard stood in the Arconia lobby talking to Grover Stanley about Jonathan Bridgecroft, who was subletting an apartment on Howard's floor. Grover encouraged Howard to take a shot with Jonathan, suggesting that Howard could go over under the guise of needing to borrow batteries. Howard brushed it off, feeling that Jonathan was way out of his league. Later, while upstairs in his apartment, he started rehearsing what he could say to Jonathan. Just as he went to go do that, he opened the door to find Jonathan there. Jonathan asked if Howard had any batteries he could borrow. Howard said he was just about to come ask Jonathan the same thing, but then invited Jonathan inside, saying he had plenty of candles.

Jonathan asked if Howard's voice was the one he'd heard. Howard explained about his Yodelshop quartet and Jonathan said he was a hyena in The Lion King, but sometimes wanted to be a children's librarian instead. Howard revealed that he was a librarian.

Later, Jonathan asked Howard to sing/yodel a duet of The Sound of Silence. They performed together, accompanied by others in the building who could hear them. As they finished, Jonathan started sneezing and asked if Howard had a pet. When Howard said yes, Jonathan said he was allergic to cats. He left after thanking Howard for a great blackout.

After the power came back on, Howard came to Jonathan's door and laid out some conditions he was using to remove the allergens from his body. He asked if he did those things, if Jonathan would consider going on a date with him. Jonathan suggested they go right away and told Howard he didn't have to get rid of his cat.

### Oliver and Teddy's Fight

Howard went to get on an elevator, but saw Teddy and Oliver fighting. They insisted it was fine and he could get on, but they started fighting again as soon as the doors closed, so Howard pressed the button to get off at the next floor.

### Killer Reveal Party

Howard was among the Arconia residents who were invited to a "Killer Reveal Party" at Bunny's apartment. When they had all arrived, the attendees debated if a killer reveal party was a party to reveal a killer or a reveal party that was killer in nature. Before the could settle the debate, Oliver, Mabel, and Charles entered the party and explained that they'd solved Bunny's murder and would reveal the killer to them, but only as part of a show they were putting on and wanted them all to participate in. Once they'd all agreed, they began setting up. An hour later, Cinda and Poppy arrived, prepared to record their own podcast because Cinda believed they'd been invited to Mabel's confession. Charles explained that they'd be revealing Bunny's real killer and pointed the finger at Cinda. He declared that she'd killed Bunny and hid her tracks with the help of a crooked cop. She asked how he knew about Kreps. Charles then laid out how instead of solving crimes for her podcast, she made them up. Cinda asked why she'd want to kill a woman she never met. Lester interjected that he had the logs that showed several visits to the Arconia, meaning she did meet Bunny. Cinda said she was just keeping tabs on the Kono investigation. The trio tried more things to unsettle Cinda, but she still couldn't confess. Mabel said that was because she didn't do it and pointed the finger at Alice, saying she wanted the painting and when Bunny asked for too much money for it, Alice killed her to get it. Alice flew into a rage and grabbed a nearby knife, intending to stab Mabel, but hitting Charles instead when he pushed Mabel out of the way. Charles collapsed to the floor while Uma called the police and the others restrained Alice. Oliver and Mabel cried and held Charles's hand as he bled to death.

As Howard comforted Mrs. Gambolini, Uma told them police and the ambulance were three minutes away. Cinda said that she was sorry for Charles' death, but said Mabel was incredible and offered her a job, saying she could even have her own podcast. This upset Poppy, who said there was nothing tying Alice to the murder and her confessing was just pure luck. Meanwhile, Poppy does everything for Cinda. As she talked, Poppy started sneezing. She said she was the one to tell Cinda about the art in the first place. Mabel questioned why and Poppy said it was for a podcast, but Cinda wasn't interested. Poppy continued to sneeze as she talked, prompting Oliver to ask if she had some kind of allergy, perhaps to Mrs. Gambolini. Mabel said the killer sneezed while leaving the crime scene. Poppy challenged that it wasn't uncommon to be allergic to birds and asked if they were going to believe some young girl hiding in the walls. Oliver said that only the killer could know about Lucy. Cinda then revealed that she knew that Poppy was really Becky Butler, the woman whose "murder" was the subject of Cinda's podcast, "*All Is Not OK in Oklahoma*". When Poppy asked who told her that, Charles popped out from under the sheet and said it was them. The whole night was staged, including the two false accusations. Poppy said she just wanted to make a good podcast. She wanted Cinda to notice her, but things went wrong. While she talked about why she did it, Williams came in to arrest her while Kreps waited outside, already in handcuffs of his own.

### Working as Oliver's Assistant

Howard auditioned for Oliver's new play and Oliver suggested that Howard become his assistant instead. Howard accepted and began working alongside Oliver. He attended the first read-through and read the stage directions.

Four months later, it was opening night. When their lead, Ben Glenroy, got punched, leaving a red mark on his cheek, Howard summoned Joy Payne to cover it, which she did. Later that night, Ben collapsed on stage and was pronounced dead. Howard assured Oliver that it wasn't his fault, which Oliver already knew. Oliver had Howard send everyone to his place for the party he had planned. At the party, everyone was shocked when Ben came in. He said he'd had his stomach pumped and left the hospital over the doctors' objections because he realized he needed to apologize to everyone for his behavior.

### Death Rattle Dazzle

Howard and Jonathan stayed with Oliver as he worked to convert "*Death Rattle*" into a musical. He had Donna and Cliff coming in the morning and needed something to show them. Howard said he had a cousin who was responsible for sponsorships for his insurance company and said they could see if he would fund them instead, but Oliver wanted to focus on Cliff and Donna instead. When the cast struggled with performing the songs Oliver had written, Howard tried again to bring up his cousin, but Oliver ignored him. He had Loretta perform *Look for the Light* instead of the opening number and the cast got on board with doing the musical.

At the next rehearsal, Oliver decided to start with Charles's patter song. When Charles flubbed a line and went to the White Room, he did something that required Howard to ask to leave so he could call his therapist. When Howard returned, he admitted that he hadn't called his therapist because he didn't have one. Instead, he'd called his cousin Morris, who helped him often when things went wrong.

In preparation for their return to the theater for rehearsals, Howard went to sweep the stage, which he did believing it would keep the ghost of Gideon Goosebury from harming the production. When he saw what he believed was the ghost confirming his presence, it reminded him that he hadn't swept the stage on opening night because K.T.'s office was locked, and he blamed himself for Ben's death. He went to Mabel's place and confessed to her, Charles, and Oliver. They decided to go to the theater so they could investigate his claims. While they were on the stage, the ghost light went out and two sandbags fell very close to Charles. They went to K.T. and told her what happened and she recruited Howard's help to check the rigging for safety. While Howard worked with her, she told him that he was wrong about how to keep Gideon from ruining the show. Instead, he needed to include Gideon in the performance. She directed Howard as he performed Gideon's monologue from the night he died.

On the day of the sitzprobe, Detective Williams came in and told them that someone from the show was Ben's killer. She wanted to take everyone down to the station for interviews, but Oliver convinced her to do them at the theater. In a panic, Howard went to K.T.'s office to shred his Papa Smurf/Skeletor fan fiction and realized the shredder was the sound he heard on opening night while he was looking for the broom. He told Mabel about his discovery and the two of them sorted through the shredded paper to try to reassemble them. Howard became frustrated when he couldn't get anything put together right.

Howard spent the next five days working to assemble the pages. At the end of the time, he had one page put completely back together, which he took to Mabel, Charles, and Oliver. Oliver immediately recognized it as Maxine's original review of the show, which was a pan and specifically called out Ben as a weak link in the show.

### Opening Night

On opening night, Howard frantically swept the whole theater while also repeating that he was including Gideon Goosebury, wanting to cover all his bases. A snag came in the form of Jonathan taking too many pills, leaving him unable to perform. Howard subtly suggested himself as a replacement, but Oliver misunderstood him and took on the role himself. Despite some behind the scenes antics, including Cliff confessing to pushing Ben into the elevator shaft, the show went well and was reviewed well.

## Personality

Howard is shy and slightly eccentric; his main interests in life are his cats Evelyn (now deceased) and Sevelyn, and his yodelshop quartet. He was devastated by Evelyn's death but the aftermath showed how well-liked he, and Evelyn, are by the Arconia community. He is risk-averse and often nervous to talk to others (as seen when he talks to Jonathan for the first time). He has a gossipy streak and enjoys telling the trio exclusive information for the podcast.

## Relationships

### Jonathan Bridgecroft

Howard first talked to Jonathan in the blackout, having previously seen him in the building. Grover Stanley encouraged him to talk to Jonathan, although a terrified Howard asserted that he would weep, vomit or burst into flames if he did so. He later changed his mind, and planned to ask Jonathan for some batteries, despite already having some in his apartment. He then opened the door and found Jonathan outside wanting to as him for some batteries. Howard subsequently invited Jonathan into his apartment and the two began a conversation, surrounded by the candles that Howard had lit as the electricity was still off. They dueted to Simon and Garfunkel's "Sound of Silence". After the power went back on, Howard asked Jonathan out, and Jonathan accepted.

## Career

Howard is the assistant director of Collection Development at the Central Manhattan Public Library. He enjoys his job and has a colleague called Agnes to whom he considers sending Sevelyn in order to pursue a relationship with Jonathan.

## Notes and Trivia

* Howard owned another cat named **Barbara** that he claimed was a 'bitch.'
* He claims to be experienced in Krav Maga.

## Gallery

### Episode Stills

Photography by Craig Blankenhorn and Patrick Harbron"The Last Day of Bunny Folger" (S02E03)"Hello, Darkness" (S02E08)"I Know Who Did It" (S02E10)"The Show Must..." (S03E01)."Grab Your Hankies" (S03E03)."Sitzprobe" (S03E08)."Thirty" (S03E09)."Opening Night" (S03E10)

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Thirty" (2023). Season 3, episode 9.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 "Ghost Light" (2023). Season 3, episode 6.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Grab Your Hankies" (2023). Season 3, episode 3.
4. ↑ "Who Is Tim Kono?" (2021). Season 1, episode 2.
5. ↑ "How Well Do You Know Your Neighbors?" (2021). Season 1, episode 3.
6. ↑ "Double Time" (2021). Season 1, episode 9.
7. ↑ "Open and Shut" (2021). Season 1, episode 10.
8. ↑ "The Last Day of Bunny Folger" (2022). Season 2, episode 3.
9. ↑ "Persons of Interest" (2022). Season 2, episode 1.
10. ↑ "Framed" (2022). Season 2, episode 2.
11. ↑ "Here's Looking at You" (2022). Season 2, episode 4.
12. ↑ "Hello, Darkness" (2022). Season 2, episode 8.
13. ↑ "Sparring Partners" (2022). Season 2, episode 9.
14. ↑ "I Know Who Did It" (2022). Season 2, episode 10.
15. ↑ "Ah, Love!" (2023). Season 3, episode 5.
16. ↑ "The Show Must..." (2023). Season 3, episode 1.
17. ↑ "The White Room" (2023). Season 3, episode 4.
18. ↑ "Sitzprobe" (2023). Season 3, episode 8.
19. ↑ "Opening Night" (2023). Season 3, episode 10.