I figured I’d start a thread for one of my absolute favorite actors (since I didn't quite manage to do one for Ali Pacina 😁, who sits right up there with Freeman as a top favorite). Let's dive into the biography of Morgan Freeman:
Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Morgan Porterfield Freeman Sr., a barber who passed away from cirrhosis in 1961, and Mayme Edna Rever, a cleaning lady. He’s one of four siblings. Because his family moved around quite a bit during his childhood, he spent time in Greenwood, Mississippi; Gary, Indiana; and eventually Chicago, Illinois. He actually started acting at eight years old in a school play. By twelve, he had already won a state drama competition, and throughout high school, he performed in radio dramas over in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1955, he actually turned down a drama scholarship from a university in Jackson, opting instead to join the U.S. Air Force.
In the early sixties, he moved to Los Angeles to work as a college registrar. During that era, he also spent some time in New York working as a dancer at the World's Fair, and in San Francisco, where he was part of a musical group called the Ring Cycle.
While his film debut was the 1971 movie Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?, Freeman really broke into the American mainstream through his roles in the soap opera Another World and the PBS kids' show The Electric Company. By the mid-eighties, he began landing more recognizable supporting roles, often playing those wise, fatherly characters. As his fame grew, his parts got bigger—think his role as the driver in Driving Miss Daisy or Colonel Rawlins in War for Glory (both from 1989). In 1992, he starred in the great Western Unforgiven alongside Clint Eastwood, and in 1994, he played Red, the inmate seeking redemption, in the acclaimed Shawshank Redemption. He cemented his superstar status with massive hits throughout the nineties like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Seven, and Deep Impact. In 1997, he teamed up with Lori McCreary to co-found the production company Revelations Entertainment.
Freeman is iconic for that unmistakable voice, which has landed him plenty of narration gigs. In 2005 alone, he provided the voiceover for two massive hits: War of the Worlds and the Oscar-winning documentary March of the Penguins. After three previous nominations (for supporting work in Street Smart in 1987, and lead roles in Driving Miss Daisy in 1989 and Shawshank Redemption in 1994), he finally took home the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Million Dollar Baby in 2004.
Freeman was married to Jeanette Adair Bradshaw from October 22, 1967, until 1979. On June 16, 1984, he married Myrna Colley-Lee. He has two sons from previous relationships, Alphons and Saifoulayje. He also adopted his first wife's daughter, Deena, and the couple has a fourth child, Morgan. Freeman splits his time between Charleston, Mississippi, and New York. He holds a pilot's license for private planes and is a co-owner of both the Madidi restaurant and the Ground Zero blues club in Clarksdale, Mississippi.
Freeman has famously spoken out against celebrating Black History Month, choosing not to participate in such events. He once remarked, "I don't want a Black history month. Black history is American history." He argued that the only way to truly end racism is to stop talking about it, noting that there isn't such a thing as a "White history month." In an interview on 60 Minutes, he told Mike Wallace, "I'll stop calling you white, but I'll ask you not to call me black."
P.S.: Personally, my favorite of his roles has to be in Shawshank Redemption (which, after weighing it against a sea of great global cinema, I've decided is probably the best film I've ever seen). Beyond that, Seven was a total powerhouse—it's widely considered one of the definitive thrillers of the nineties—as were Unforgiven with Clint Eastwood and several others, but Shawshank Redemption remains my top pick, both for him and in general.
