Morgan Freeman is one of the most celebrated actors of his generation – and one of the hardest working.
During a career spanning six decades, he has amassed a huge body of work that has seen him play everyone from the President of the United States to God as he flitted easily between everything from dramatic work to action movies and comedy.
Now 87, the Oscar award winner is still working steadily, having appeared in two movies this year and a TV series, despite an injury he suffered more than a decade ago that still causes him pain.
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A star is born
Morgan Freeman was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on June 1, 1937. His mother was a teacher and his father was a barber.
As a baby, he was sent to live with his paternal grandmother in Charleston, Mississippi.
He made his acting debut at nine after scoring the lead role in a school play. At 12, he won a statewide drama competition.
After graduating high school, he declined a partial drama scholarship to enlist in the US Air Force.
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After serving from 1955 to 1959, he moved to Los Angeles, where he took acting classes and studied theatre arts before working as a dancer at the 1964 World's Fair.
He started acting in musical theatre, before winning a role in the play The Royal Hunt of the Sun.
He was in a number of plays, including a Broadway production, joining the US education TV series The Electric Company in 1971. He left the show after four years.
A life on screen
Movie and TV roles followed. His first movie credit was for the 1971 family film, Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!
In the 1980s, he became a sought-after supporting actor and received an Academy Award nomination for the 1987 film, Street Smart.
In 1989, he appeared in four films, including Driving Miss Daisy, in which he played Hoke Colburn, a chauffeur for a wealthy Jewish widow. He knew the role well, having already played Colburn on stage.
The film was a huge hit, and saw Freeman earn an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
That year he also had roles as the school principal in the films Lean on Me, and starred in one of his favourite films, Glory.
The 90s saw roles in Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, the Clint Eastwood western Unforgiven, and The Shawshank Redemption, which won him an Oscar nomination for Best Actor.
He also appeared in the medical drama Outbreak, thriller Kiss the Girls, and doomsday film Deep Impact, where he played the President of the United States, and directed his first feature film and founded a production company.
The early 2000s saw roles in Nurse Betty, Under Suspicion, Along Came a Spider and The Sum of all Fears.
He played God in the 2003 hit film, Bruce Almighty, opposite Jim Carrey and Jennifer Aniston, and reprised the role in the 2007 Evan Almighty, co-starring Steve Carell.
He won his first Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a Golden Globe for his role in the 2004 film Million Dollar Baby.
He starred in six films released in 2005 – earning him the title of Hollywood's hardest working actor.
His rich, distinctive voice also became sought-after for voiceover and orator roles.
The rest of that decade saw him flit between comedies such as The Bucket List, dramas such as Gone Baby Gone and action thrillers.
He played Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight, and starred as one of his heroes, Nelson Mandela in Invictus.
He has continued to amass an impressive body of work across numerous genres, including action-thriller Olympus Has Fallen, and its sequels, and starred in the hit TV series Madam Secretary.
Family life
Freeman has been married and divorced twice and has four children from various relationships. He is also a proud grandfather.
Sons Alfonso and Saifoulaye, were born in 1959 and 1960 respectively.
Freeman told Esquire in 2012 he left Alfonso's mother Loletha Adkins when he found out she was pregnant and was not involved in his life until he was 19.
They met two years later when Alfonso answered his door. He told USA Today in 2007, "I opened it and there's Morgan Freeman."
They went on to act together in The Bucket List, with Alfonso playing his character's son.
Little is known about Saifoulaye.
Freeman married Jeanette Adair Bradshaw in 1967. Freeman adopted Deena Adair, Bradshaw's daughter from a previous relationship. They also had another daughter together, Morgana.
Freeman told The Telegraph in 2014 he became a hands-on dad.
"When I had daughters, I changed their [nappies]. Being hands-on makes a difference in your child's life."
The couple divorced in 1979. Deena became a Hollywood hair and makeup artist to stars including Freeman.
In 1984, Freeman married Myrna Colley-Lee. They did not have any children together but took in Deena's daughter, E'dena Hines.
"His daughter Deena was having a hard time, so I asked for E'Dena to live with us," Colley-Lee told People in 1988.
"Morgan functions more like a grandfather, but he's happy I got this chance at parenting."
The two separated in December 2007 and divorced in 2010.
Hines went on to become an actress and was on the cusp of making it big when she was murdered in New York City by her on-off boyfriend in 2015. She was 33.
"The world will never know her artistry and talent, and how much she had to offer," Freeman said in a statement to People after her death.
"Her friends and family were fortunate enough to have known what she meant as a person. Her star will continue to shine bright in our hearts, thoughts and prayers. May she rest in peace."
What is Morgan Freeman doing now?
Freeman has not retired from acting, having starred in two films released this year, My Dead Friend Zoe and Gunner.
He also appeared in seven episodes of the TV series Lioness, opposite Aussie Nicole Kidman.
He has reprised his role as former magician Thaddeus Bradley in Now You See Me 3. Filming wrapped in November and the film is due to hit cinemas at the end of 2025.
In September, he presented his friend and long-time collaborator Clint Eastwood with an award at the 2024 Monterey Jazz Festival.
Freeman is often photographed wearing a compression glove on his hand to treat fibromyalgia, a type of nerve damage he sustained in a 2008 car accident.
He told People in 2010, "I suffered nerve damage and it hasn't gotten better. I can't move it.
"If you don't move your hand, it will swell up."
He told Esquire in 2012 the pain goes "up and down the arm."
"That's where it gets so bad. Excruciating," he said.
Freeman has an estimated net worth of $385 million.
He divides his time between homes in Charleston, Mississippi, where he spent much of his childhood, and New York City.
In 2018, Freeman was accused of sexual harassment by a number of women he had worked with on movie sets. He later apologised to anyone who felt "uncomfortable or disrespected" by his actions.
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Title: All about Morgan Freeman's life, including tragic death of granddaughter he raised and 'excruciating' health condition
Sourced From: celebrity.nine.com.au/latest/morgan-freeman-what-happened-what-is-he-doing-now-explainer/4c54a542-c7b9-4b09-94c4-c997c5321bae
Published Date: Fri, 06 Dec 2024 06:12:00 GMT
