He has worked with film director John Sayles in The Brother from Another Planet (1984), City of Hope (1991) and Lone Star (1996).

[1] His television work includes his role as Eli Pope, Olivia Pope's father, in Scandal, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Drama Series in 2014,[2] and the role of Henry Deacon on the TV series Eureka.

[10] Morton made his Broadway debut in Hair, appeared in Salvation, and was nominated for a Tony Award for Raisin.

[11] In 2016, Morton portrayed the activist and comedian Dick Gregory in the play Turn Me Loose at the Westside Theatre in Manhattan.

[12] Morton portrayed Dr. Silas Stone, father of Victor Stone/Cyborg, in a cameo role in the 2016 film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, part of the DC Extended Universe.