Errol Morris
A documentary philosopher who invented a machine to capture truth, using it to explore the minds of executioners, whistleblowers, and secretaries of defense.
Born 1948 (age 78)·American film director·Birthday: February 5·Baby Boomers
Biography
Errol Morris makes films about people who are certain, then gently dismantles that certainty to reveal something far stranger: the human condition. After dropping out of a PhD program in philosophy, he turned to film, bringing a detective’s obsession and a novelist’s eye for the absurd to non-fiction. His breakthrough, 'The Thin Blue Line,' used stylized re-enactments and hypnotic interviews to prove a man’s innocence, literally freeing him from death row. To get his subjects to look directly into the lens—and thus, into the viewer’s soul—he built the Interrotron, a mirrored teleprompter that allows for an unnervingly intimate confession. Whether profiling a former defense secretary in 'The Fog of War' or a former secretary of defense in 'The Unknown Known,' Morris listens with a quiet, persistent curiosity, allowing his subjects to hang themselves with their own words or reveal unexpected vulnerability. He treats documentaries not as journalism, but as epistemological detective stories, where the mystery is not what happened, but how we know anything at all.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Errol was born in 1948, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Errol Was Born
The biggest hits of 1948
#1 Movie
The Red Shoes
Best Picture
Hamlet
#1 TV Show
Texaco Star Theatre
Errol's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1948Born
Israel declares independence; Berlin Blockade begins
Gas: $0.26/galHome: $7,450Min wage: $0.40/hrPresident: Harry S. Truman"Twelfth Street Rag" — Pee Wee HuntBest Picture: Hamlet
1953Started school
DNA structure discovered by Watson and Crick
Gas: $0.27/galHome: $8,750Min wage: $0.75/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Song from Moulin Rouge" — Percy FaithBest Picture: From Here to Eternity
1961Became a teenager
Yuri Gagarin becomes the first human in space
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $12,500Min wage: $1.15/hrPresident: John F. Kennedy"Tossin' and Turnin'" — Bobby LewisBest Picture: West Side Story
1964Could drive
Civil Rights Act signed; Beatles arrive in America
Gas: $0.30/galHome: $13,450Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"I Want to Hold Your Hand" — The BeatlesBest Picture: My Fair Lady
1966Could vote
Star Trek premieres on television
Gas: $0.32/galHome: $14,200Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"The Ballad of the Green Berets" — SSgt Barry SadlerBest Picture: A Man for All Seasons
1969Turned 21
Apollo 11: humans walk on the Moon; Woodstock festival
Gas: $0.35/galHome: $15,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Sugar, Sugar" — The ArchiesBest Picture: Midnight Cowboy
1978Turned 30
First test-tube baby born
Gas: $0.63/galHome: $35,300Min wage: $2.65/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Shadow Dancing" — Andy GibbBest Picture: The Deer Hunter
1988Turned 40
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 50
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2008Turned 60
Barack Obama elected first Black US president; financial crisis
Gas: $3.27/galHome: $153,100Min wage: $6.55/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Low" — Flo RidaBest Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2018Turned 70
Royal wedding of Harry and Meghan; Parkland shooting
Gas: $2.72/galHome: $211,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"God's Plan" — DrakeBest Picture: Green Book
2026Age 78 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- His film 'The Thin Blue Line' (1988) led to the exoneration and release of a wrongfully convicted death row inmate, Randall Dale Adams.
- Won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for 'The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara' (2003).
- Invented the 'Interrotron,' a camera device that allows interview subjects to speak directly into the lens while maintaining eye contact with the interviewer.
- His film 'Gates of Heaven' (1978) was named by Roger Ebert as one of the ten greatest films of all time.
Did You Know?
Before filmmaking, he worked as a private investigator, which influenced his methodical interview style.
He was a graduate student in philosophy at Princeton but did not complete his degree; one of his professors was Thomas Kuhn.
He directed a series of memorable television commercials for companies like Apple, Citigroup, and Miller High Life.
Morris is a devoted owner of a pet hairless Chinese crested dog named Schatzi.
“There's no way to see the world as it is. You see the world through who you are.”
