Morgan Freeman
Interview by Mark Huber - January 1, 2010
Morgan Freeman began acting in grade school plays at age nine. By the time he was in high school he was on the radio in Memphis. He turned down an acting scholarship to Jackson State University in Mississippi to join the Air Force, but after his military service he began a slow, steady climb to show business prominence, initially as a dancer and later as an actor in touring companies. By 1967, he was appearing off-Broadway and the following year he made it to the bright lights in the all-black version of Hello Dolly with Pearl Bailey and Cab Calloway.
By the early 1970s, Freeman had migrated to a television soap opera and the PBS children’s program The Electric Company, where he played such characters as Easy Reader and Vincent the Vegetable Vampire. In 1978 he earned a Tony nomination for his portrayal of an enraged drunk in The Mighty Gents.
His breakout film role was as a violent pimp opposite Christopher Reeve in 1987’s Street Smart. The performance garnered him his first Academy Award nomination. Two years later, Freeman reprised his stage role as the chauffeur in Driving Miss Daisy for the film version with Jessica Tandy. The performance brought Freeman a Golden Globe Award and his second Oscar nomination and made him a household name. He has appeared in more than 50 films, including Glory; Lean On Me; Clint Eastwood’s masterful Unforgiven; The Shawshank Redemption; and Million Dollar Baby, which won Freeman an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 2004. Many Hollywood observers deemed the award long overdue.
Freeman’s latest film, Invictus, is set for release in December. Based on the book Playing the Enemy by John Carlin, it tells the story of how former South African president Nelson Mandela used his country’s victory in the 1995 World Cup rugby championship to help unify the racially bifurcated nation. Freeman plays Mandela and Matt Damon costars as captain of the rugby team. Eastwood directed the film.
Freeman says he thinks the best way to end racism is to stop talking about it, but he has been known to take a stand on racial issues. In 1997, he offered to pick up the tab for an integrated high school prom in Charleston, Miss., where proms had remained segregated for years. In 2008, the school board there finally accepted his offer and the result was chronicled in the acclaimed HBO documentary Prom Night in Mississippi.
Off-screen, Freeman maintains a variety of professional and personal interests, including his Hollywood-based Revelations Entertainment production company; partnerships in several aircraft; two blues clubs in Memphis and Clarksdale, Miss.; and a restaurant in Clarksdale. Freeman is also an environmentalist and serves on the board of Earth Biofuels, a biodiesel company.
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