'I will miss your infectious laugh': Adam Sandler pays tribute to late Happy Gilmore co-star
Adam Sandler has paid a lighthearted tribute to his 'Happy Gilmore' co-star Morris the alligator.
The reptile - whose role in the 1996 comedy saw him almost sabotage the Tour Championship chances of Adam's titular character - passed away on Sunday (11.05.25), the Colorado Gator Farm announced and now the 58-year-old actor has joked he will miss his co-star's "infectious laugh" and "cold, bumpy skin".
He wrote on Instagram: "Goodbye, Morris. We are all gonna miss you.
"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...
"I will miss the sound of your tail sliding through the tall grass, your cold, bumpy skin, but, most of all, I will miss your infectious laugh. Thanks to Mr. Young for taking care of you all these years, and vaya con dios, old friend."
And Adam joked he had learned a "powerful" lesson from Morris.
He quipped: "The day you wouldn't come out of your trailer unless we sent in 40 heads of lettuce taught me a powerful lesson: never compromise your art.
"I will never forget at craft service that time when we split the Three Musketeers bar and you let me have the bigger half. But that's who you were."
Adam noted there had been no plans for Morris to appear in the upcoming 'Happy Gilmore' sequel due to his demise in the original movie, but quipped he was grateful the reptile had sent some well-wishes.
He wrote: "I know your character's decapitation in the first movie precluded your participation in the sequel, but we all appreciated the fruit basket and the hilarious note."
Morris retired to the Colorado Gator Farm in 2006 after more than 30 years working in showbiz.
The facility noted the alligator's "exact age was unknown".
They added: "But he was 9 feet long in 1975 and by his growth rate and tooth loss, we can estimate his age at over 80 years. While we knew this was inevitable, we are very saddened by his passing to old age. RIP Morris."
Jay Young, who owns and runs the facility, cradled Morris in his arms in a video which accompanied the news of his death on Facebook.
He noted the creature had "started acting strange about a week ago, he wasn't lunging at us and wasn't taking food."
He tearfully noted it may be "strange to people that we get so attached to an alligator," but he was glad that Morris "had a happy time here and he died of old age."
Morris' other notable film credits included appearances in 'Interview with the Vampire', 'Dr. Doolittle 2', and 'Blues Brothers 2000', as well as starring roles as the killer creature in 1980's 'Alligator' and sequel 'Alligator II: The Mutation'.
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In a recent interview, Morris had mentioned it was her favourite drink. 'It is now. It's my 30-something cocktail. The dirtier, the better.' The local souvenir, one she hopes to add to when she returns on tour next summer, is also a symbol of her lively new era. Dreamsicle – her first album since her divorce from longtime partner, country singer Ryan Hurd, with whom she shares a five-year-old son – finds Morris blending her pop sensibilities with her country DNA. For each Push Me Over, there's an emotional barnstormer like This is How a Woman Leaves, written with Madi Diaz. (The song ends on a pure country couplet: 'You have the nerve to ask why I'm not crying/ I did all my crying lying next to you'.) 'They're songs tackling all these feelings of liberation – sexual, personal, vulnerable, angry,' says Morris. 'That's kind of the through line of this record, it's someone in a mess finding themselves and finding their power again.' A decade since her major label breakout, 2016's Hero, Morris remains one of country music's more intriguing figures, at once both insider and outsider. A Texan native, she started playing country fairs and rodeo circuits when she was 10 years old. After flunking at every reality TV singing competition (American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, et al), she eventually made the move to Nashville and became a hired gun in the songwriting machine, before becoming a star in her own right with Hero 's smashes My Church and '80s Mercedes, and 2018's crossover EDM hit The Middle with Zedd. In the intervening years, she also became one of country's loudest progressive voices, speaking out often and unequivocally against racism, misogyny and homophobia in its ranks. (In one memorable instance, responding to transphobic comments from Brittany Aldean – the wife of country star, Jason – she labelled her 'Insurrectionist Barbie'.) 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'I'm such a fan [of Chappell] and I think what she's advocating for and doing musically is so important,' says Morris. 'You just know when you're watching a true artist be themselves, fully be themselves, and not follow a script or a paradigm. I don't want perfection from the artists I love; I want real, I want authenticity, and she's definitely that.' I'm speaking to Morris over Zoom, but with some foresight I might've caught her in person. Last month I noticed a Reddit commenter wonder aloud if they'd really just spotted Morris in Sydney. 'Yeah, that was me, I was on vacation,' Morris laughs. 'I had a week off and I was like, I really want to have a little adventure before all the tours and album stuff kicks in. I'd always wanted to go to Sydney and just explore, be a random person. The only plan on the schedule was to get a tattoo.' She lifts her forearm to show me the martini glass inked there by Sydney tattooist, Lauren Winzer. In a recent interview, Morris had mentioned it was her favourite drink. 'It is now. It's my 30-something cocktail. The dirtier, the better.' The local souvenir, one she hopes to add to when she returns on tour next summer, is also a symbol of her lively new era. Dreamsicle – her first album since her divorce from longtime partner, country singer Ryan Hurd, with whom she shares a five-year-old son – finds Morris blending her pop sensibilities with her country DNA. For each Push Me Over, there's an emotional barnstormer like This is How a Woman Leaves, written with Madi Diaz. (The song ends on a pure country couplet: 'You have the nerve to ask why I'm not crying/ I did all my crying lying next to you'.) 'They're songs tackling all these feelings of liberation – sexual, personal, vulnerable, angry,' says Morris. 'That's kind of the through line of this record, it's someone in a mess finding themselves and finding their power again.' A decade since her major label breakout, 2016's Hero, Morris remains one of country music's more intriguing figures, at once both insider and outsider. A Texan native, she started playing country fairs and rodeo circuits when she was 10 years old. After flunking at every reality TV singing competition (American Idol, America's Got Talent, The Voice, et al), she eventually made the move to Nashville and became a hired gun in the songwriting machine, before becoming a star in her own right with Hero 's smashes My Church and '80s Mercedes, and 2018's crossover EDM hit The Middle with Zedd. In the intervening years, she also became one of country's loudest progressive voices, speaking out often and unequivocally against racism, misogyny and homophobia in its ranks. (In one memorable instance, responding to transphobic comments from Brittany Aldean – the wife of country star, Jason – she labelled her 'Insurrectionist Barbie'.) Loading In an interview with New York Times ′ Popcast in 2023, Morris decried an ugly strain of 'hatefulness' in country music at the time, a period dominated by MAGA-fied culture wars around Jason Aldean's Try That In a Small Town, Oliver Anthony's Rich Men North of Richmond, and Morgan Wallen's post-slur comeback. That same year she told the Los Angeles Times she'd 'take a step back' from the country industry amid conservative backlash and death threats. With some dust settled, does country feel less hateful now? 'I mean, I'm so out of the loop. But the people I hang around with here in Nashville and make music with are my best friends for a reason,' says Morris. The backlash just let her know who's really onside, anyway. 'I've always been rebellious and risky, and it's totally fine if people don't get it, not everyone is supposed to. Of course, you're going to lose some people along the way, that's life. But you need to let people know where you stand. 'That's why the fan base I do have is so diverse and safe,' she adds. 'It's because I've stuck my neck out for them and vice versa. It's not been me just towing the line and keeping my mouth shut to keep coins in my pocket. I really believe in what I'm saying and what I'm writing, and I think that's only been a benefit to my work. I've just never had it in me to be a fence-sitter.' Pun completely unintended.
