An award-winning writer and academic and "wonderful father, husband, and son" died just days after private gastric sleeve surgery which was supposed to give him a new lease of life. Phillip Morris, from Newport, died at the age of 48 leaving his wife Dana and young son Orson bereft.
Phillip was due to embark on a PhD literary programme at the University of East Anglia – one of the best writing courses in the world – in February 2022. But he never recovered from his operation at St Anthony’s Hospital in Surrey on December 6, 2021, and he died four days later.
Dana – who Phillip met when the two of them were still teens at Camp America – said some of his last words to her were: "You’ve got the project right hon?" He was referring to the project he worked on right up until he went in for surgery, editing Home to You: Celebrating 10 Years of Wales Arts Review. It was almost ready for print, said Dana sadly.
Phillip had long struggled with his weight and he was diagnosed as having type one diabetes while he was in his early 20s at drama school. He was put on insulin but 20 years later he was told he actually had type two diabetes. His treatment had caused him to fall into a "vicious cycle" said Dana. His body got more resistant to insulin as he continued to feel hungry and put weight on. The gastric sleeve was going to allow Phillip get back to his normal weight and reverse his symptoms, including issues with his eyesight.
"The surgery was December and he was due to start the PhD course that February and all of his Christmas presents had been things like a Thermos because he was going to have to do a lot of travelling to East Anglia," Dana said. "He was prepared, he was ready to go. That was going to be another tier in his career."
Phillip needed to lose between five and seven stone and had chosen to go private after the pandemic caused a two-year back log in NHS bariatric surgery. But as he came round from his surgery he struggled to talk and breathe. It was hard for Dana to watch as her husband became more and more ill. He died on December 10.
A pre-inquest review held at South London Coroner’s Court in Croydon on April 27 asked for further information about Phillip's treatment in the days before he died. The full inquest is due to be held in January 2024 and Spire Healthcare, which runs the hospital, said it was "assisting the coroner by providing information for the purposes of the inquest".
Dana, who is originally from Michigan in the US, welcomed the coroner's decision. She said: "Phil was someone who never talked about himself – he was always trying to promote the work of other writers, artists, and students. Sadly it's after he's passed that he's being recognised." He was a founding member of Wales Arts Review and from 2012 to 2016 was its managing editor.
The couple met when Phillip was 19 and Dana was 18 and fresh out of American high school. Phillip – who grew up on the Malpas estate in Newport – had started an English and drama degree at Bristol but decided he'd had enough after a year. Dana said: "He was feeling like: 'How can I write anything meaningful if I haven't really seen the world, let alone experience love?'"
Both of them were working for Camp America with inner-city kids from Detroit and it was Dana who spied Phillip first as she gave a talk. "I caught this guy in the first row of the auditorium and I thought: 'He looks handsome'," Dana said. "He had a gravitas about him. He liked my presentation because I kept it no-nonsense. I started asking around: 'Who is this guy?'
"He had all these stickers of the Welsh dragon and at that time a lot of people, including me, couldn't even point out Wales on a map. And I thought: 'He's awful proud of his country'." Finding out about his love of drama and theatre Dana offered to drive him to various productions of his choosing. It sounds very forward now, added Dana. But at the time they were both falling in love.
Phillip was scheduled to go volunteering in East Timor and Dana had four years of university ahead of her but Phillip declared they would just have to get married instead. He returned to Newport to get a job and start earning enough money to move to the US and marry so Dana could continue her studies there.
Phillip arrived in the US in May 1994 and three days later they were married with "random witnesses" from Dana's classes. They were called Madonna and Christian, Dana laughed, adding that they took it as a "lucky sign". She said: "I think Phil came over with £250 in his pocket which paid for our honeymoon in Chicago."
An opening came up for a drama teacher at the same university where Dana was studying and Phillip got the job. While there he directed a "full-blown production" of Othello which was "the talk of the town". Dana added: "He was an amazing lecturer. He was 20 – his oldest student was 73."
Phillip played Iago in Othello, drawing on his experiences working at the Dolman and Sherman theatres back home in south Wales. But he realised he needed technique and he auditioned – and was accepted – for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. And so the young couple eventually came to the UK.
They lived in Newport where their only son Orson – named after the American actor Orson Wells – was born but after seven years they moved back to London so Phillip could pursue his love of acting. "He was such a great dad when Orson was born," said Dana. "He was so modest. He was a great writer, a wonderful father, husband, and son and a true inspiration to everybody who met him."
In a heartfelt tribute to his colleague and friend Gary Raymond wrote: "Phil and I used to laugh a great deal. His shoulders would hunch and his eyes would screw up and he would bob up and down and go a bit red in the face. I think it’s important to remember how someone laughed."
It was Phillip and Gary who organised the Wales Arts Review critics' roundtable at the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff and commissioned Dame Sian Phillips to present the greatest Welsh novel award. Dana said: "Phillip revered Dame Sian – I saw the look of joy and and humbleness on Phil’s face, knowing giving Sian Phillips' stage instructions were a major milestone in his career."
Gary added: "[Phillip] was at his best when working on something that would mean something to people – creating mentor schemes, organising young critics events, getting people in a room to share ideas and creative opportunities. He wrote finest on theatre and film but he lifted up higher when writing about youth or community projects and he could see some non-privileged kids giving their all for the collective good."
Phillip's family – including parents, brother, sister, nieces and nephews – have been left "heartbroken" by their sudden loss. The family’s legal team at Middleton Law are investigating Phillip’s case to seek more answers into the circumstances of his treatment and death.
A spokesman for Spire Healthcare added: "We offer our very sincere condolences to Mr Morris’ family for their loss."
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