Morgan Freeman’s biography
It’s easy to be an actor, it’s hard to become one, - these words belong to Morgan Freeman, whose name is known to the whole world due to such masterpieces as the Shawshank Redemption, Seven, Million Dollar Baby and many others. Net worth: $250 million.
Childhood
The actor’s biography began in the south of the United States, in Memphis. His parents met at the local hospital where they both worked. The elder Freeman was an orderly, and his wife, Mayme, was a nurse. Their firstborn Morgan, named after his father, was born on June 1, 1937. Shortly after the birth of his sister, his parents broke up. Mayme, though a patient and pious woman, didn’t want to stand her husband’s drunkenness.Many workplaces had freed up in the northern states in the early 40s. Mayme forgave her husband, who had come to confess and promised to stop drinking and they moved to Chicago in search of a better life. The three-year-old Morgan and his sister were left in the care of their father's mother.
Morgan began school in Chicago. There were both black and white children in the class. It was 1945 and segregation still officially existing in the south, had already been canceled in the north. But here the boy was still humiliated. Mayme's mother, who once came to visit her daughter, took pity on the children and took Morgan and his sister to the south, to the small village of Greenwood.
Subsequently, the actor recalled the time he spent with his grandmother as one of the happiest periods in his life. In Greenwood, he went to school for black. Morgan was very lucky with his teachers who made the tall, uncomplicated boy believe that he would be able to get out into people. He loved to read and at the age of 8, he enrolled in the library, where he literally swallowed a book after another, surprised by the diversity and beauty of the world that he was about to open.
The handsome black boy was also a dreamer. After watching a picture about pilots he began to dream about the sky and after graduating from school he became a cadet of a military school in Texas. However, the reality was different from the world that Morgan had invented for himself. The government began the war in Vietnam and Morgan was afraid he could be drafted into the army. After graduating from college, the young man abandoned his military career and moved to California.
25 years of obscurity
In Los Angeles, Morgan knocked on the thresholds of film studios for several years but was never able to get a single role. He was 21 years old, and he had neither money nor acquaintances. He loved the cinema with all his heart and sincerely didn’t understand why he was refused. A few years later the young man moved to New York. There Freeman scratched along with odd jobs and played in amateur theaters.In the late 60s, the actor managed to get a job on television. After working in a children's show for several years, he noticed that he began to feel craving for alcohol. His father had already died of liver cirrhosis, and Morgan was afraid. He realized that he could repeat his fate. Taking himself in hand, he continued to follow his dream, patiently perceiving new and new refusals.Morgan lived 25 years in New York. Working in the theater brought him neither satisfaction nor money. Having played many roles, he became increasingly convinced that his vocation was cinema.
Rapid rise
In 1984 the 48-year-old actor received a role in the Harry and Son picture. The picture wasn’t very successful but brought recognition to Morgan. Over the next two years, the actor starred in several films, but the true breakthrough came in 1986. The role in the Street Smart drama, where Morgan brilliantly played the role of a pimp, made him a star overnight. He was nominated for an Oscar for this role in 1987.Morgan began to receive invitations for films but didn’t dare to leave work in the theater. The Driving Miss Daisy staging with him participating was a great success among the theatergoers and was later screened. Morgan still played the driver who became the best friend of the arrogant white lady of Jewish origin, who was played by Jessica Tandy. The story about the difficult relations between two people belonging to different layers of society deserved four Oscars and became the best picture of the 1990s. The actor himself received a Golden Globe.
Main roles
In 1995 the premiere of the Seven by David Fincher took place, where Freeman played along with Brad Pitt. The creepy thriller, filmed in the neo-noir traditions, established in the middle of the twentieth century by Martin Scorsese, shocked the public. It’s interesting that the creators of the picture didn’t even hope that Morgan Freeman would agree to the role of one of the detectives, considering the plot too cruel. But he was interested not in the plot, but the fee, as he later said subsequently laughing and everyone took his statement as a joke. However, Mr. Freeman is known as an actor who is very interested in the material component of art.
The Under Suspicion subtle psychological thriller especially stands out from the works of that period, where the characters of Morgan Freeman and Gene Hackman play a game naturally ended in the destruction of one of them. The picture didn’t receive super-profits at the box office but became a favorite picture for the thoughtful and serious viewer.
In 2017 the actor, accompanied by Michael Caine and Christopher Lloyd appeared in the Going in Style comedy. The story about three pensioners who decided on a daring bank robbery has earned the recognition of the audience and enthusiastic reviews by critics. Matt Dillon also appeared in the picture, playing the detective.
Morgan Freeman’s personal life
It is known that the actor has two extramarital sons, Alfonso and Saifoulaye. In 1967 Morgan Freeman got married for the first time. His choice was Jeanette Bradshaw, who already had a daughter, Dinu, from her first marriage. Morgan adopted the girl, and in 1979 the couple had their common child, daughter Morgana. Shortly after her birth Morgan and Jeanette broke up.
Morgan Freeman nowadays
In 2019, two films were released with the participation of the actor. It was the thriller "The Poison Rose", in which Freeman played Doc, and the action-packed thriller "Angel Has Fallen," in which Morgan played the role of Allan Trumbull. Also, since 2019, the film "The Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard" is being filmed, in which the actor will also take part. The premiere is scheduled for 2021.Morgan Freeman: latest news and articles
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