"Cold Case" star uncovers more cash

[Brian Damage]

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Cold Case" star Kathryn Morris is heading into the upcoming fifth season of the CBS crime drama with a salary bump and a production deal.

Morris' raise will bring her paycheck to $180,000-$190,000 per episode for the next two seasons of "Cold Case," sources said, describing the increase as modest. Each season runs about two dozen episodes.

The 38-year-old actress stars as Lilly Rush, a dedicated detective in the Philadelphia homicide squad working on crimes that have never been solved.

Morris is also launching her own production company, which will have a first-look deal with Warner Bros. Television, one of the production companies behind "Cold Case." It is common practice for the stars of successful series to get production deals with the studio behind the series. For instance, Anthony LaPaglia, the star of "Without a Trace" -- another CBS crime drama -- launched his own company at WBTV two years ago.

Since its launch in 2003, "Cold Case" has been a solid ratings performer. In 2004, the procedural drama fetched $1.4 million per episode in an off-network syndication deal with TNT. The cable network will begin running repeats in the fall.

On the feature side, Morris has been cast as a stoner school nurse in "The Sophomore," a dark comedy starring Bruce Willis. She will shoot the Yari Film Group project next month around her "Cold Cast" schedule.

She returns to theaters on Friday in "Resurrecting the Champ," opposite Josh Hartnett and Samuel L. Jackson.

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter