By the time he was famous, it seemed as though actor Morgan
Freeman already had a long and venerable career. While he worked hard for years
in small basement productions in New York City and on public television's early
morning kid's show "The Electric Company" (PBS, 1971-77) - which, to his
chagrin, was his most widely-recognized role for many years - Freeman would not
gain widespread exposure until he landed the Oscar-nominated role of the
volatile pimp Fast Black in "Street
Smart" (1987). Because of that performance, Freeman catapulted
into national prominence, quickly becoming a household name and one of
Hollywood's most distinguished performers. He was nominated again just two years
later for his portrayal of Hoke Coleburn in "Driving
Miss Daisy" (1989), a role reprised from a previous
off-Broadway stint. A third nomination for "The
Shawshank Redemption" (1994) further cemented Freeman's
already esteemed image as a quality actor.
Though it took another decade to
actually win an Academy Award - his performance in Clint Eastwood's "Million
Dollar Baby" (2004) finally earned him the golden statue -
Freeman had by then firmly established himself as one of the finest and most
revered performers of his generation.
Born on June 1, 1937 in Memphis, TN, Freeman moved around with his family,
making stops in Charleston, MS and Chicago, IL before finally settling in
Greenwood, MS. Years spent watching countless movies - especially ones with
horses and someone carrying a gun - prompted Freeman to want to be an actor.
Encouraged by teachers at Greenwood High School from which he graduated in 1955,
Freeman pursued acting only after attempting to become a fighter pilot in the
Air Force. But since it was the mid-1950s, he encountered a military unwilling
to allow blacks to fly. The only job available to him was radar mechanic. Though
racism certainly discouraged Freeman from his dream, his realization that flying
combat planes meant possibly killing others was the main reason he refocused his
goals for good. After leaving the Air Force in 1961, he headed to Los Angeles,
CA where he enrolled at Los Angeles City College and began his career in
earnest.
At LACC, Freeman developed his signature mellifluous vocal tone with the help
of diction lessons. Meanwhile, he accepted whatever job came his way, including
dancer at the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. Back in New York, he gained his
first major exposure in 1967 in an off-Broadway production of George Tabori's
"The Niggerlovers," followed by a stint as Rudolph in an all-black version of
"Hello,
Dolly!" But the parts in those days were few and far between
for Freeman - a lack of extensive connections forced him to ping-pong from coast
to coast in search of roles and various odd jobs. In 1971, Freeman became Easy
Reader on "The Electric Company" - a cool and hip (for back then) reading guru
who performed song and dance numbers to teach kids to read. Despite anticipating
only doing the show for a couple years, Freeman managed to stick around for six.
He returned to the stage after "The Electric Company," winning critical acclaim
and several awards - including a Drama Desk Award and the Clarence Derwent Award
- for his performance as the rebellious wino Zeke in "The Mighty Gents" in 1978.
He also received a Tony Award nomination for the same role.
Despite the widespread acclaim, "The Mighty Gents" closed after only one
week. He regained his stride with his next performance, earning considerable
acclaim and an Obie Award for his outstanding turn as The Bard's exiled Roman
general Coriolanus at the New York Shakespeare Festival. He won another Obie -
this time for "Mother Courage" - but quickly found himself in the midst of a two
year dry spell brought about by his reputation at the time for being difficult
to work with. But he emerged in 1984 with another Obie-winning performance,
playing The Messenger in Lee Breuer's "Gospel at
Colonus" at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The same role
earned him a Dramalogue Award in 1985. Yet another Obie was added to his trophy
shelf with a tour-de-force performance as Hoke Colburn in the staged version of
"Driving Miss Daisy," a role he would
revive two years later in Bruce Beresford's Oscar-winning film.
Though he made his big screen debut in "Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?"
(1971), Freeman was absent from movies for another nine years when he played a
crazed inmate in the prison drama, "Brubaker" (1980), a role praised by famed
New Yorkercritic Pauline Kael. While excelling on stage,
Freeman languished in routine roles in mediocre movies, including "Teachers"
(1985) and "MARIE: A
True Story" (1985). But his first Oscar nominated performance
in "Street Smart" permanently changed
his fortunes. After getting a second Oscar nomination with his reprisal of Hoke
Colburn in "Driving Miss Daisy"
(1989), Freeman gave a standout performance in "Glory" (1989), the heart
wrenching saga of the first unit of black soldiers to serve for the United
States during the Civil War. He followed with a forgettable appearance as the
sympathetic Judge White in "The Bonfire
of the Vanities" (1990), before returning to form with a solid
turn as the mysterious, but loyal Moor Azeem in "Robin Hood:
Prince of Thieves" (1991). Already a venerable actor of
considerable heft, Freeman had yet to reach his zenith.
Most often cast in supporting roles, Freeman routinely outshined his leading
co-stars, as was the case in "Unforgiven" (1992), the Oscar-winning anti-Western
directed by old friend Clint Eastwood. Freeman played Ned Logan, former
gunslinger-gone-straight who is convinced by a former outlaw (Eastwood) to help
right the wrong done to a prostitute. Freeman's roles in both "Unforgiven" and
"Robin
Hood" allowed Freeman opportunity to play characters not
typically conceived as black; a trend he continued when playing the roles of
President of the United States and God later in his career. Meanwhile, Freeman
made his directorial debut with the story of a black South African policeman and
his son divided by apartheid in "Bopha!"
(1993) - the strain and stress of which made him vow to never direct again. In
1994, Freeman earned a third Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Red, a man
serving a life sentence in prison who can access everything on the inside except
hope, in the moving drama "The Shawshank
Redemption."
As Freeman earned considerable prestige and respect, he was able to shake off
years of struggle, though never his playing Easy Reader on "The Electric
Company." He received more praise for his role as a world-weary cop tracking a
serial killer with novice partner (Brad Pitt) in "Seven" (1995). Freeman then
appeared as the mysterious Hibble - a character not in the original novel - in
the screen adaptation of "Moll Flanders" (1996), then as the enigmatic
benefactor of a university's research project in "Chain
Reaction" (1996). The following year, Freeman had the rare
opportunity to headline a film, playing police detective and psychologist Alex
Cross in the above-average thriller "Kiss the
Girls" (1997). Meanwhile, Steven Spielberg utilized the
actor's innate moral rectitude for the role of an former slave turned
abolitionist in "Amistad"
(1997), while director Mimi Leder saw him as the perfect figure to lend dignity
and leadership to a world in crisis as the U.S. President coping with an
impending meteor crash in "Deep
Impact" (1998).
Freeman added a producer credit to his resume with the based-on-fact
television drama "Mutiny" (NBC, 1999), which detailed the behind-the-scenes
actions that led to the landmark decision to integrate the U.S. military. Both
Freeman and actor Gene Hackman served double duty as co-producers and co-stars
in the cat and mouse drama "Under
Suspicion" (2000), a remake of the French thriller "Garde a
Vue" (1982). Later that year, Freeman offered a splendid
performance as a hit man who obsesses over the woman (Rene Zellweger) he has
targeted to kill in "Nurse
Betty," one of the most affecting and offbeat roles of his
career. Following his reprise of detective Alex Cross in the prequel "Along Came
a Spider" (2001) opposite Monica Potter, the actor rejoined "Kiss the Girls" co-star Ashley Judd in the
middlebrow thriller "High
Crimes" (2002), then played the director of the CIA in "The Sum of
All Fears" (2002). Freeman turned in an otherwise effective
performance as the mentor to a young Jack Ryan (Ben Affleck) in a
disappointingly lackluster adaptation of the Tom Clancy bestseller.
The following year, Freeman turned in an unusually exaggerated performance as
an obsessive alien-fighting military officer in the supernatural thriller
"Dreamcatcher" (2003), an artistic and critical disaster based on the novel by
Stephen King. The actor was next seen as a genial God in the hit comedy "Bruce
Almighty," starring Jim Carrey (2003), then as a Hawaiian
lawman in the meandering Elmore Leonard-derived caper "The Big
Bounce" (2004). Freeman next appeared in the critically
acclaimed "Million Dollar Baby"
(2004), an exquisite and subtle film directed by old friend Clint Eastwood. As
Scraps, an aged boxer full of frustration and regret and blind in one eye,
Freeman gave a fine performance that earned him a Golden Globe nomination for
Best Supporting Actor, his first since "The
Shawshank Redemption." The actor won at the Screen Actors Guild, and on
his fourth go-round at the Oscars Freeman at last claimed the Best Supporting
Actor trophy at the Academy Awards.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Freeman maintained a steady output of work
after his Oscar win. He followed up with an appearance in "Unleashed" (2005) as
a blind piano tuner who helps a trained fighter (Jet Li) escaped from the
confines of his trainer's prison basement to start a new life. The combination
of martial arts and blunt sentimentality earned the action thriller plenty of
critical kudos. The venerable actor thrilled comic book fans when he winningly
played Bruce Wayne's right-hand man Lucius Fox - the "Q"-like character with the
keys to all of the Dark Knight's exotic, high-tech tools - in "Batman
Begins" (2005), a prequel to the popular film franchise that
focused on the superhero's shadowy origins. He also lent his gravitas-heavy
vocals to narrate a pair of disparate projects: "March of
the Penguins" (2005), the Americanized version of the p tic
French nature documentary "La Marche de L'empereur," and Steven Spielberg's
riveting remake of the sci-fi classic "War of the
Worlds" (2005). Freeman's next release, director Lasse
Hallstrom's long-delayed "An
Unfinished Life" (2005), cast the actor in a role that ech d
his "Million Dollar Baby" turn
despite being filmed first, playing the plain-spoken best friend of a
cantankerous rancher (Robert Redford).
Though he made his career as the upholder of moral authority and dignified
voice of reason in most of his roles, Freeman did break form to play the
occasional villain. In "Lucky
Number Slevin" (2006), a post-Tarantino thriller about a case
of mistaken identity, Freeman was a New York City crime boss waging war against
his cross-street rival (Ben Kingsley) while trying to get an innocent man (Josh
Hartnett) new to the Big Apple to pay up on an outstanding debt. After serving
as executive producer and starring in "10 Items or
Less" (2007), a bittersweet comedy about an aging Hollywood
icon who forms an unlikely friendship with a caustic checkout clerk (Paz Vega),
Freeman revisited his role as the Man Upstairs in "Evan
Almighty" (2007).
Meanwhile, Freeman reprised Lucius Fox for the highly-anticipated follow up,
"The Dark
Knight" (2008), which opened to rave reviews and
record-breaking box office. While reveling in the commercial and artistic
success of "The Dark Knight," Freeman suffered a near tragic event when he was
involved in a car accident near his home in Mississippi. Freeman was driving
down a rural highway, where it left the road, flipped several times and landed
in a ditch. Though he was lucid - talking to and joking with rescue workers -
Freeman and his passenger Demaris Meyer were pried from the vehicle with the
jaws of life. The actor was then airlifted to Regional Medical Center in
Memphis, TN, where he was listed in serious condition. Just days after the
accident, Freeman's business partner told "Access Hollywood" (Syndicated, 1996-
) that the actor and his wife, costumer Myrna Colley-Lee, were in the midst of
divorce proceedings and had been separated since December 2007. At the hospital,
Freeman had surgery to reconnect nerves in his left arm and hand, and was
reportedly doing well. Returning to work, Freeman bounced back nicely with his
next film, "Invictus"
(2009), directed by old friend Clint Eastwood. He played South African president
Nelson Mandela, who joins forces with white rugby star, Francois Pienaar (Matt
Damon), to inspire a subpar team to win the 1995 Rugby World Cup and unite a
fractured nation. Freeman's stirring portrayal of Mandela earned him nominations
at the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and Academy Awards for Best Actor.
