To help celebrate his life please feel free to leave comments/share stories & your memories of Morrie (Modris) Pilens
13/6/1928 – 16/11/2017
13/6/1928 – 16/11/2017
To help celebrate his life please feel free to leave comments/share stories & your memories of Morrie (Modris) Pilens
Ruth and the family thank the many people who have contacted us with words of comfort and special anecdotes.
Some of the quotes below are from Facebook feeds we are collating here for all to enjoy – please keep sharing and celebrating his contribution to our lives.
He leaves big shoes to fill, his legacy is what he taught those of us who were lucky enough to have walked alongside him. The World is a far richer place as we share those experience’s with others.
You had a long hard journey,
your work is done,
it’s now time to Rest In Peace.
Always in our thoughts.
Vale Morrie. A one in a kind human being. A dear family friend and mentor. Tough, kind, hilarious, a trail blazer and immensely gifted.
Sorely missed. Condolences to Ruth and family.
So sad to hear of Morrie’s passing. Morrie filmed my first, and possibly last, on road story when I first joined Ten News. We went on to enjoy many years as work colleagues. Even as his boss the friendship endured. Morrie covered many of the biggest stories of the time and if events were a bit slow, we could always depend on Morrie to fire things up.
A great mentor, a great colleague and a great man. Will miss you mate.
My goodness I was scanning the classifieds in the paper when the notice just popped out at me! Bit of a shock! Morrie and Ruth were my kind and hospitable neighbours when I lived in Doncaster at No 11! We had many a glass of wine and a meal and they were far and away the best neighbours I have ever had! My love to Ruth and farewell to Morrie – his final wishes do not surprise at all!
Very sad news. He seemed invincible. Love to the family.
Im sad to hear that news. Morrie was a larger than life character. Condolences to the family.
That is incredibly sad. I remember Morrie with great affection – a true news legend.
Sad to hear about Morrie. Greatly respected and much loved.
Very sad to hear this.I’ll always remember Morrie with great affection . He helped me many times. Condolences to his family.
Condolences to the Pilens family,so fondly remembered.
Dear Morrie. He could bring a dull day to life in an instant. Nick is also sad to hear the news.
RIP Morrie. He taught me a lot when I started out at 10. He was a likeable rogue in so many ways – a part of Channel 10 history. Condolences to Ruth and family
Oh dear. We all owe so much to him. Remember his guidance and advice for reports I really enjoyed my time with him. A great figure in our industry.
Morrie,a larger than life figure with a heart of Gold,it was a pleasure to know him.Its a sad day to hear of his passing,a real TV legend.
Condolences to his family.
Indeed many condolences to Morrie’s family
Our love and thoughts go out to everyone who knew and loved Morrie especially Ruth and family. We had caught up with them recently and Morrie was delighting us with his stories of days at 0/10.
He seemed invincible and it’s so sad he has gone. Rest in peace dear Morrie. Roz and Joan.
Such sad news. Condolences to Morrie’s family. Such a legend. I hope you found your microphone stand Morrie.
Everybody respected Morrie. Even Premier Dick Hamer I remember a time when I was interviewing Hamer with Morrie and there was a personal matter He needed to have seen to and he spoke to Dick and asked if he could help him . Hamer picked up the phone and phoned one of his ministers and gave Morrie the help he needed. A mark of his popularity and respect
Fondly remembered
Morrie, what a character larger than life and a great loss. I only have fond memories and remember fearing him as a young assistant but over time realising he had a heart of gold. First Cameraman to let me shoot a frame of film, when it was pouring rain. He sat in the car. He also dacked me in Collins St when I had my hands in the bag changing film. RIP Modris condolences to Ruth and family.
I agree John, he was a legend. Go well old fella.
Me too Steve, Morrie dropped my pants in collins whilst trying to change film. What a legend of a person Morrie was. After you made it through the 1st 2 or 3 weeks with Morrie as a lowly camera assistant you could only have the utmost respect for the man. RIP Morrie.
RIP Morrie. Sad news. He is such a legend. Condolences to Morrie’s family.
RIP Morrie. An absolute legend and true gentleman. Condolences Ruth and family. Thinking of you at this sad time.
Sad news. In the short couple of years I worked with him I learnt so much. A great teacher and priceless character till the end. Every time I coil up a, lead I think of Morrie Pilens
Oh so sorry. I always felt like Morrie was a bit of a surrogate dad for me. Loved knowing you Morrie. What an honor. I hope you’re at peace. Give Peter a hug from me. Cause havoc up there Morrie. Love to you Ruth and Jo at this tough time. xx
Peter (Pete) Tulloch 29/10/1956 – 22/05/2006
Morrie, Was one of life’s “Characters”. No mater how well you thought you knew him, he would surprise you. He will be miss by many. Rest in Peace Morrie.
Such sad news. Great memories of Morrie on the road. My condolences to Ruth & family. What a legend of television news he was. Go well Morrie.
What a great and full innings.Big influence in my early career.All my thoughts to Ruth and family. Keep on stirring things up mate.
RIP Morrie. A great friend during my time in news. Larger than life and fondly remembered. Condolences to Ruth and family
Rest In Peace Morrie. Sometimes he asked questions from behind the camera which were inappropriate !!!! He called some people in press conferences “lefty pinkos” but we loved him for it. Thanks for the memories.
Not your average man. Not even close to average. Glad I never went up against him on a story. Never dead to me. Lives on every day in my mind. Memories of loading lighting boxes up with Vodka at product launch and hours spent yarning with Morrie and Omar Sharif. Hard to tell who was more interesting. I was lucky to have him and Frank Few. Men who had seen the world at its worst but aimed for the best, self educated and able to teach resliance from hard experience. So many Morrie stories now to be ” lost in time like so many tears in rain,” I guess he and the late and much missed Pete Tulloch will have much to discuss. (http://pilens.com.au/PeterTulloch)
Lovely sweet man. RIP Morrie.
I think it was Morrie who sometimes used to call reporters , microphone stands! Lovely man . From Latvia with love .
Sad to hear of Morrie’s passing. He was one of the trailblazing legends in Australian television news. A larger than life, immensely gifted character who could be bold and brash, tough as nails, hilarously funny and extremely kind, all in the space of just one day. He will be remembered as a good friend, a collegue, a mentor and just a wonderful man. Rest in Peace Morrie.
Sincere condolences to Ruth and family.
A special day yesterday as some of the newsroom girls got together and raised our glasses in loving memory of Morrie Pilens a much
Loved friend and work colleague. RIP Morrie
At the passing of Morrie, I take this opportunity to repost a part of my Profile on him.
My thoughts are with the Pilens Family.
Vale, Morrie Pilens.
Profiles 10: Modris (Morrie) Pilens.
News-cameraman… Survivor… Tough S.O.B.
By the time I began to work at ATV O, the Christmas of 1968, many I spoke with talked about Morrie Pilens with a kind of awe: He was reputed as some unyielding, unrelenting, hard-nosed, unemotional, in-your-face with a camera, film-jockey. He’d blunder and bluff and connive; tough in a stouch with Pollies or Police, right upfront at press releases, tight with some political Big-Wigs, annoying in his attitude and presence. All probably correct. Why?
See now, below.
At the age of two, Modris Pilens had lived through the end of The Roaring Twenties, the end of Silent Movies, the beginning of The Talkies and The Wall Street Crash, though of course, he was unaware of this, being born in Riga, Latvia in 1928.
The new decade heralded The Great Depression, the advance of Fascism, and the rise of power in Germany, which had been busy throwing off the Old Guard, it’s Reparations after the end of The War To End All Wars, and the emergence of a fellow who had won the Iron Cross, First and Second Class, in that past war. A fellow who was the most pertinent of them all in what was to come less than a decade away.
By the age of twelve Modris had witnessed, along with all those millions of others on several continents, the beginning of the conflagration that became World War Two. At its conclusion, aged seventeen, he was spat out of the glut of madness, into the sombre aftermath of a grateful, though
wounded peace.
What had he witnessed? The forcing out of the Russians from Riga as the German army rolled in in 1943.
By this time Modris, had become involved with filming and its accoutrements: cameras, sound equipment, film itself. He had secured himself a job with the Riga Film Unit, and when the Germans arrived they swiftly commandeered the company and its workers. By the age of fifteen, Modris was put into an S.S. uniform, (The alternative was very unpleasant) and as a part of the Latvian War Correspondent Division, was sent to Poland. Later he was evacuated to Tieringen in Germany, to S.S. Standarte Kurt Eggers, a Propaganda Unit run by Goebbels. When the Allies bombed Berlin he witnessed the catastrophic effects of phosphorus burns; soldiers shooting victims to put them out of their misery.
He had been in Berlin for a while and saw, first-hand, the way things were. Even his youthful eyes and mind absorbed the conditioning of the public, the propaganda, the lie that was promulgated to the people as fact. And he registered that the general public had no part to play in what was happening, other than to acquiesce. The ordinary people of Germany were made to bow down beneath the yoke of their leaders, and their Fuhrer.
Abruptly, he and his group were ordered back to Tieringen.
There, they witnessed the approach of the Red Army and the retreat of the Germans.
Somewhere, amongst the looting of the town, there being no resistance by the locals, Modris and his countrymen managed to join the Russians in an ongoing party that continued until all the looted Champagne and Brandy ran out.
The Americans, joining forces with the Russians, informed Modris and his unit that they had to leave at once, because the Russians were about to partition Tieringen. It was to become their territory. All the Latvians were placed on a train bound for Vienna, stopping at Blomberg.
Modris survived the Second World War, the deprivations, the fear, the hunger. Already, in those early years, he had walked the haunted streets of the places of devastation. In Blomberg, aged seventeen he faced an uncertain, fragile future.
All that happened to him, from his childhood in Latvia, up until the beginning of The Second World War, and all that followed in its wake, are a part of the greater story and history of Modris Pilens: his marriages, his family, his innate ability to see and access and initiate, his grappling to come to an understanding of other places, languages, customs and laws, and his adaptability; are intrinsic of the man.
Gruff, tough, passionate, unrelenting… at times, bombastic. That is Modris (Morrie) Pilens.
I hope he gets to read this. I’ll raise a glass of Schnapps, or polish Vodka to him.
(He did read it)
Jennifer Kyte is reputed to have said something like, ‘If you can survive Morrie, you can survive anything.’
True maybe. But perhaps now you have a glimpse at what goes into the making of a survivor.
Morrie, 1928-2017. R.I.P.
https://www.facebook.com/kenneth.mulholland.9?fref=gs&hc_ref=ARRqETmhZuoobIQwe2nka5o1GUUa5S_2_YLT4XC1Fl2jxM4phexTSBk7sZOFVqfsMro&dti=34859386946&hc_location=group
Farewell Morrie Pilens……….
RIP Morris, a true legend in Television
R.I.P. Morrie.
Great memories of Morrie. He will be sadly missed. The tales will be told for a long time.
Very sad to hear of the passing of Morrie Pilens. We shared many adventures, going all the way back to 1962. One of a kind.
An amazing character. RIP. Condolences to Morrie’s family.
A great mentor and a great guy
One of a kind. Very fond memories. RIP Morrie
A Master Craftsman RIP Morrie.
What an awesome man. he will b missed. thoughts with Ruth & family
There was only one. I was so lucky to have spent time with him the great days of TV news. What a man.
I first saw Morrie in action in 1981 screaming at some journo for standing behind his journo during a stand up at Magistrate court in Russell Street. As Mick Purdy stated A Great Man Larger than Life. Morrie Got it done his way. I’m sure he’s already directing heavens lights. RIP
What I really liked about Morrie was his mentoring style with young camera assistants. He would take the time to let the younger guys shoot stuff such as stand-ups and general voice over vision under his expert guidance. I think he enjoyed doing that more than the all the other stuff…
Never have i enjoyed being a “f…ing mic stand” as much as with the great Modris Pilens.
Here’s Morrie’s Story about the origin of the term “Mic Stand”
From Interview done by Jo (Pilens) Pfitzner
One of the jobs we were going to do was talking to Mick Jordan – the secretary of Trades Hall. A good, solid male. No nonsense, blue collar boy. So previously we used to have to cart everything up to his office and set up the lights, and put stuff in there. But, seeing we had this facility it was all so much easier. And he was quite pleased to participate because it took less time for him. So we just drive to the yard of Trades Hall, set up my camera, connect it to the battery and ready to roll.
So he comes downstairs and he’s ready – a couple of minutes and it will be over and done.
So this particular time I had a journalist I’d inherited form one of the newspapers. I won’t mention his name. He’s going to do a short interview… So Mick Jordan comes down and I put him into position so I can concentrate. My journalists’ there and he says ‘Oh, just a minute. Excuse me.’ He takes out a little bag from the car, opens it up, turns the rear vision mirror towards himself and starts applying make up. Jordan looks at me, I look at him. I just shrug my shoulders. He just smiles.
So we’re ready with a made up journalist, shoot the thing, the interview’s over, we pack up and off we go. We go back to studio to edit the film – whathisname goes back and ‘I’ll stay in town.’ And when I got back, he accosts me. ‘How dare you. How dare you to reduce me to a mere microphone holder.’
From then on, many a cameraman introduced their accompanying journalists as “Mike Stand”.
(laughter)
Additional info:
What I did, was shot over his shoulder, a close up of Mick Jordan. Which did not require cutaways, which did not require two shots. It was a straight out interview, Mick Jordan was making a statement. Therefore not even whathisname’s ear made it onto the screen.
With Mick Jordan there was a silent exchange of meaningful looks that only a male could interpret.
Beautiful words and a great life story. I use to love listening to his stories driving to news jobs and we always stopped at Vic Markets to get a Bratwurst and Sourkraut hotdog for lunch. These memories will stay with me and thanks for helping to make me the Cameraman I am today. RIP Morrie
R.I.P. Morrie. I will never forget the time you burst into the maternity ward at Box Hill Hospital, camera in hand. I still have the photographs you took of Sally and me. x
Roz Ireland: That’s so Morrie Jen. Remember he turned up and took film of Joans wedding which was great but unfortunately has got lost over the years. X
Loved this read when you first wrote it and loved reading it again. Morrie did read it and was secretly quite chuffed . I read it out to him one day we were there and I think you ended up sending it to Ruth. So glad he read it!
Kenneth Mulholland: So am I Roz.
RIP Modris, nothing but fond memories, he was a major part in teaching me my craft.
A true legend was Morrie. Never will be forgotten.
He’s gonna have some fun in that great giant verge cleanup in heaven.
Loved Morrie, Great man. Larger than life. RIP mate.
A larger than life character RIP Morrie
Thank you Ken – you have really captured him. And thank you to everyone who has kept in touch over the years in one way or another – he pretends to hate the attention, but I know he has valued being a part of the Australian news industry.
Vale dear friend and mentor. And thank you Morrie for the wonderful start I had in an industry I loved.
To Morrie’s beautiful family, my love and condolences xxx
RIP ….Morrie Pilens
What a great man, he will be missed
To all the darlings who have sent messages – it is such a comfort for me to scroll down (many times!) and re-live precious memories.
Today is a week since I found Morrie sleeping peacefully and I am sort of re-living that day in slow motion – not tearfully but in a kind of reflective mode.
God bless you all – and remember, the NOW is the most important time you will ever have
Warmest love from Ruth and family xx.
Goodbye Morrie. I have known you since I was a little girl and Jo and I met over the fence. Although I haven’t seen you for many years I remember you as kind and welcoming. You could be a little loud at times, funny and always respected. I also remember you filming us one Christmas day for a news story. I didn’t make the cut but I eventually got over it! You also got us tickets for a TV show staring Johnny Farnham ( yes, Johnny at that time) I was 10 and convinced I was going to marry him! I loved that and did get his autograph. My thoughts and love go out to Ruth and family. You will be missed….but never forgotten.