MORGAN FREEMAN

'Morgan Freeman' (born June 1, 1937) is an Academy Award-winning American actor, film director, and film narrator. He became known during the 1990s, after having appeared in a series of successful Hollywood films.

Contents

Biography

Early life

Career

Personal life

Filmography

Awards

See also

References

External links

Biography

Early life

Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Sr., a barber who died in 1961 from liver cirrhosis, and Mayme Edna (née Revere), a cleaner.^[1][2][3] He has three older siblings. Freeman's family moved frequently during his childhood, living in Greenwood, Mississippi, Gary, Indiana, and finally Chicago, Illinois. Freeman made his acting debut at age eight, playing the lead role in a school play. At age twelve he won a statewide drama competition, and while in high school he performed in a radio show based in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, opting to work as a mechanic in the United States Air Force.
Freeman moved to Los Angeles in the early 1960s and worked as a transcript clerk at Los Angeles Community College. During this period, he also lived in New York City working as a dancer at the 1964 World's Fair and in San Francisco where he was a member of the Opera Ring music group. Freeman made his acting debut in a touring company version of ''The Royal Hunt of the Sun,'' and also appeared as an extra in the 1965 film, ''The Pawnbroker.'' He made his off-Broadway debut in 1967, opposite Viveca Lindfors in ''The Nigger Lovers''^[4][5] (about the civil-rights era "Freedom Riders"), before debuting on Broadway in 1968's all-black version of ''Hello, Dolly!,'' which also starred Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway.

Career

Although his first credited film appearance was in 1971's ''Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?'', Freeman first became known in the American media through roles on the soap opera ''Another World'' and the PBS kids' show ''The Electric Company'', (notably as Easy Reader and Vincent the Vegetable Vampire) which he claimed he should have left earlier than planned.
Beginning in the mid-1980s, Freeman began playing prominent supporting roles in many feature films, earning him a reputation for depicting wise and fatherly characters. As he gained fame, he went on to bigger roles in films such as the chauffeur Hoke in ''Driving Miss Daisy,'' and Sergeant Major Rawlins in ''Glory'' (both in 1989). In 1994 he portrayed Red, the redeemed convict in the acclaimed ''The Shawshank Redemption.'' His star power was already confirmed as he starred in some of the biggest films of the 1990s, '', ''Se7en'', and ''Deep Impact''. In 1997, Freeman, together with Lori McCreary, founded the movie production company Revelations Entertainment, and the two co-head its sister online movie distribution company ClickStar. Freeman also hosts the channel "Our Space" on ClickStar, with specially crafted film clips where he shares his love for the sciences, especially space exploration and aeronautics.
Freeman is recognized for his distinctive voice, making him a frequent choice for narration. In 2005 alone, he provided narration for two of the most successful films of the year, ''War of the Worlds'' and the Academy Award-winning documentary film, ''March of the Penguins.'' After three previous nominations (a supporting actor nomination for ''Street Smart'', 1987, and leading actor nominations for ''Driving Miss Daisy,'' 1989, and ''The Shawshank Redemption,'' 1994), he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in ''Million Dollar Baby'' at the 77th Academy Awards.
In 2006, Freeman began filming Rob Reiner's ''The Bucket List'', opposite Jack Nicholson, playing terminal cancer patients who must fulfill their lists of goals. The film is scheduled to be released in 2007.

Personal life

Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from October 22, 1967 until 1979. He has been married to Myrna Colley-Lee since June 16, 1984. He has two sons, Alphonso and Saifoulaye, from previous relationships. He adopted his first wife's daughter, Deena, and the couple also had a fourth child, Morgana. Freeman lives in Charleston, Mississippi and New York City. He has a private pilot's license, and co-owns and operates Madidi, a fine dining restaurant, and Ground Zero, a blues club, both located in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Freeman has come out publicly against the celebration of Black History Month and does not participate in any related events, saying that "I don't want a black history month. Black history is American history." He says the only way to end racism is to stop talking about it, and he notes that there is no "white history month." Freeman once said on an interview with 60 Minutes' Mike Wallace: "I am going to stop calling you a white man and I'm going to ask you to stop calling me a black man".^[6]
On Saturday October 28, 2006, Freeman was honored at the 1st Mississippi's Best Awards in Jackson, Mississippi with the Lifetime Achievement Award award for his works on and off the big screen. "He's been like a father figure to me," related C. A. Webb, the event's founder. "Mr. Freeman is one of those men who you cannot help but respect, no matter what role he plays".
Freeman received an honorary degree of Doctor of Arts and Letters from Delta State University during the school's commencement exercises on May 13, 2006.

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1971	''The Electric Company''		television series
1978	''Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry''	Uncle Hammer	made-for-television
1980	''Brubaker''	Walter
1981	''The Marva Collins Story''	Clarence Collins	made-for-television
1984	''Teachers''	Al Lewis
1985	''Marie''	Charles Traughber
1985	''That_Was_Then..._This_Is_Now''	Charlie Woods
1987	''Street Smart	Fast Black	Academy Award nominee for Best Supporting Actor
	''Fight For Life	Dr. Sherard	made-for-television
1989	''Glory''	Sgt. Maj. John Rawlins
	''Driving Miss Daisy''	Hoke Colburn	Academy Award nominee for Best Actor
	''Lean on Me''	Principal Joe Clark
1990	''The Bonfire of the Vanities''	Judge Leonard White
1991	''	Azeem
1992	''Unforgiven''	Ned Logan
	''The Power of One''	Geel Piet
1993	''Bopha!''		director only
1994	''The Shawshank Redemption''	Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding	Academy Award nominee for Best Actor
1995	''Se7en''	Detective Lt. William Somerset
	''Outbreak''	Brig. Gen. Billy Ford
1996	''Chain Reaction''	Paul Shannon
	''Moll Flanders''	Hibble
1997	''Amistad''	Theodore Joadson
	''Kiss The Girls''	Dr. Alex Cross
1998	''Deep Impact''	President Tom Beck
	''Hard Rain''	Jim
2000	''Nurse Betty''	Charlie
	''Under Suspicion''	Victor Benzet
2001	''Along Came a Spider''	Dr. Alex Cross
2002	''The Sum of All Fears''	DCI William Cabot
	''High Crimes''	Charlie Grimes
2003	''Bruce Almighty''	God
	''Dreamcatcher''	Col. Abraham Kurtz
2004	''Million Dollar Baby''	Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris	Academy Award winner for Best Supporting Actor
	''The Hunting of the President''	(Narrator)	limited release
	''The Big Bounce''	Walter Crewes
2005	''An Unfinished Life''	Mitch Bradley
	''War of the Worlds''	(Narrator)
	''March of the Penguins''	(Narrator)
	''Batman Begins	Lucius Fox
	''Unleashed''	Sam
2006	''Edison Force''	Ashford
	''The Contract	Frank Carden
	''Lucky Number Slevin''	The Boss
	''10 Items or Less''	Him	Limited release. Became the first film to be legally available via digital download while still in general release (via ClickStar [1].)
2007	''Evan Almighty''	God
	''The Feast of Love''	Harry Scott
	''Gone, Baby, Gone''	Jack Doyle
	''The Bucket List''
2008	''Wanted''	Sloan
	''The Dark Knight''	Lucius Fox
2009	''Rendezvous With Rama''	Captain Norton

Awards

★ 1987 Nominated for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in ''Street Smart''.

★ 1989 Nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as a chauffeur, in ''Driving Miss Daisy''.

★ 1994 Nominated for Academy Award for Best Actor, in ''The Shawshank Redemption''.

★ 2003 Received the Crystal Globe award for outstanding artistic contribution to world cinema at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival.

★ 2005 Won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, in ''Million Dollar Baby''.

★ 2006 Guest of honor at the Cairo International Film Festival.

★ 2007 He and his wife received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters.

See also

★ List of male movie actors

★ List of male theater actors

References

1. http://www.filmreference.com/film/24/Morgan-Freeman.html
2. http://www.hellomagazine.com/profiles/morganfreeman/
3. Father's name was stated as "Morgan" on Inside the Actors Studio
4. Biography for Morgan Freeman, IMDB.com database, retrieved 16 Mar 2007
5. Morgan Freeman Biography, tiscali.co.uk Film & TV, retrieved 16 Mar 2007]
6. http://msnbc.msn.com/id/10482634/

External links

★

★ ClickStar headed by Morgan Freeman and Lori McCreary

★ Morgan Freeman at All Movie Guide

★ Revelations Entertainment Production company co-founded by Freeman

★ A detailed biography of his history as an actor