In Memoriam: Actress Cindy Morgan Lives as Her Character Yori in ‘Tron’ … by Joe Arce

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CHICAGO – Cindy Morgan: So the first time you saw ‘Caddyshack’ did you ever imagine that one day you’d be wrangling my boobs for a photo?
Joe Arce: Constantly
Cindy: (Laughing) Okay, Cowboy. Welcome to Fantasy Island! Wrangle away! 
Joe: Are you sure? 
Cindy: Christ!, do I have to buy you dinner first? Yup, get that double sided tape ready and give me the full ‘Jayne Mansfield’ table shot treatment!
Joe: God,I love my job
Cindy: Consider yourself tipped.

Cindy Morgan
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

During that first shoot I remember sharing the story of seeing “Tron” for the first time at a suburban drive in with my college girlfriend. That girlfriend got huffy as the movie progressed, till she literally tapped me on the shoulder saying, “You know you’d get a lot luckier with the hot blond here in the car than the one on the screen … if you could just peel your eyes off her for a couple minutes.” It was easier said than done. It was Cindy Morgan.

Fast forward a couple decades and that same on-screen fantasy girl would be fearlessly rolling around on my photo studio floor. I remember Cindy was amazed at how far technology had indeed come … with her digital images loading directly into my hard drive then appearing on screen.

“Where’s my f-ing Light Cycle?” was her hilarious response. We joked about “Yori” (the character Cindy portrayed in “Tron”) now taking up residence in her photographers studio desktop hard drive. 

Cindy and I would work together many times. I would accompany her to Chicago area conventions and then we would do photo shoots together after hours. While she may have relocated to the West Coast and then Florida, Cindy remained a born-in-Chicago girl at her very core. She was completely without airs and one of the friendliest and most approachable celebrities in the business. If you were a fellow Cubs or Bears fan she would happily talk your ear off. 

From the very beginning we shared  a common love of endless witty banter and a shared mission statement of showing that contrary to industry standards, an actress over 50 could still fully embrace her Hollywood bombshell status. Together we made sure that a heaping helping of photographic “cheesecake” remained on the menu for all the fans that followed her on social media. 

In 2018 Cindy offered me the position of her personal assistant and to help manage her if I was simply willing to relocate my business to sunny Florida. I told her I would only accept the position if she would instead move back to sweet home Chicago.

She countered, attempting the sweeten the deal further by offering to let me share her condo as her roommate … while simultaneously adding another “boob wrangler” joke … knowing how much I appreciated a more direct “hands on” approach with my clients. Touche! Having just entered into a serious relationship at the time, I assured her that moving out-of-state to shack up with “Lacy Underall’  no matter how ” professional“ would no doubt be a deal breaker.

“Well don’t say I didn’t offer,” she replied. 

Cindy and I had been texting about two weeks before she unexpectedly passed away (December 30, 2023). We were discussing new headshots for the new year. Reacting to her Facebook posts about her crazy landlord and the eviction situation, I once again begged her to leave Florida and come back home. Sadly it seems that the author Thomas Wolfe was right … you can never truly go back home again.

I mourn the loss of my friend.

But then I realized that Cindy is exactly like her Tron character – Yori lives! She is always right there literally in my hard drives and in the cloud. With just a few clicks, there she is again … forever beautiful and smiling. And I can hear her laughing out loud at how life perfectly imitated art. Cindy became Yori, eternally dancing through a hard drive. Talk about method acting.

In the search engine of the heart, here are seven more of Cindy’s favorite photos from our work together. 

Cindy Morgan Two
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Cindy Morgan Three
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Cindy Morgan Four
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Cindy Morgan Five
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Cindy Morgan Six
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Cindy Morgan Seven
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Cindy Morgan Eight
Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Photography and Cindy Morgan Tribute by: Joe Arce