Whether you know him from his roles in Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption, or more recently, Now You See Me, you are aware of Morgan Freeman’s exceptional acting abilities. In addition to his vast acting accomplishments, Morgan Freeman also served in the military. In the US Air Force.
Joining the Military
Morgan Freeman was born on June 1, 1937, in Memphis, TN. He was the son of a teacher and a barber and moved around a bit as a child. He lived in Mississippi, Indiana, and Chicago.
When he graduated from high school in 1955, he turned down a partial drama scholarship to Jackson State University to enlist in the Air Force. While serving, he was an Automatic Tracking Radar Repairman. Morgan Freeman served from 1955 to 1959 and rose to the rank of Airman First Class.
His Acting Years
Although he had his first acting role in a school play at the age of nine, it was after his military service that he moved to Los Angeles and began taking acting classes. His first Broadway debut was in 1967 with an all-black version of Hello, Dolly!
In 1971, he starred in a PBS Children’s TV show, The Electric Company. His first credit in a feature film was also in 1971, with Who Says I Can’t Ride a Rainbow. However, it was in 1989, when he appeared in four movies, Glory, Driving Miss Daisy, Lean on Me, and Johnny Handsome, that he really started to gain popularity.
The 88-year-old actor then went on to star in memorable roles in the 1990s, such as The Shawshank Redemption, Se7en, and Kiss the Girls. In total, Morgan Freeman has 152 acting roles, 23 producing roles, and two directorial roles on IMDb.
Most recently, you can find him in the TV show Lioness, as well as the Now You See Me: Now You Don’t movie, coming out later this year. He has been married twice, although now divorced, and has four children.
Image Credit: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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