Morgan Freeman
Getting to Know The One and Only Morgan Freeman. He’s an actor, director, and narrator who is known worldwide for his famous voice and his roles in what some consider the best movies of all time, like The Shawshank Redemption, Driving Miss Daisy, Seven and Million Dollar Baby. Freeman has played in over 100 movies and TV shows. Acting and performing had been his passion since he was a child when he had roles in multiple school plays. Although he always had this passion, he didn’t take a straight path into his acting career. After he graduated high school he actually turned down a partial drama scholarship from Jackson State University, choosing instead to enter the United States Air Force and work as a mechanic, and eventually a pilot. At some point he had the opportunity to sit in a cockpit and that’s when he realized this wasn’t for him. He said he didn’t love it, he loved the idea of it. He left the air force in 1959 and couldn’t deny his acting passion anymore and moved to New York to pursue it. He worked as a dancer for a while and it wasn’t until he started performing on Broadway, in the show “Hello Dolly” that he started to get noticed. After that, as they say, it’s all history. Although his career grew slowly, it grew consistently, and he is now one of the most respected stars in Hollywood.
What You Didn’t Know
On some level, we all feel like we know Morgan Freeman because of how often he appears on our big screens. But there is still so much we don’t know about him. For one, he is a man of many passions. While Freeman realized quickly that flying in the air force was not what he wanted to do, it didn’t end his passion for flying altogether. He made the decision to get his private pilot’s license after someone who he was flying with asked him to take the controls so he could take a few photos. In an interview with Business Jet Traveler, Freeman describes the experience like this, “I have a business partner who had a [Piper] Seneca and we started flying around. One day he wanted to go up and take pictures of the [Mississippi] river and he said, “Here, hold the plane while I take some pictures.” He told me how to bank it over and hold it in a bank so he could take photographs out the window. And I did and I said, “This isn’t super hard. It’s hard to hold altitude but the rest of it is OK.” And he said, “I can’t teach you how to fly-you have to get a flight instructor.” So in July 2002, I got a flight instructor and that October I got my license.” Freeman now owns a Cessna Citation II and a Cessna 414. Although it is a very costly hobby from the planes themselves to the constant upkeep, his successful career is able to support it.
He’s the “Bee’s Knees”… Literally
After learning the bee population was threatened, he turned 124 acres of his Mississippi property into a bee sanctuary that houses 26 hives. On an episode with Jimmy Fallon when asked about his new calling, Freeman replied he didn’t need to wear any protective gear with the bees. While Fallon laughed it off as a rookie mistake, Freeman explained he needed to resonate with the bees and the people who wear all the protective gear can’t resonate with them. For Freeman beekeeping isn’t a hobby, he is actively playing a role to keep the bee population alive, and thriving. Freeman has said. “We do not realize that they are the foundation, I think, of the growth of the planet, the vegetation.”
Hollywood’s Favorite
With all his years in Hollywood, spanning around five decades, it seems Morgan Freeman is always giving us more reasons to love him. He will be celebrating his 85th birthday this June, and is still happily working. His most recent film called “Hate to see you go” was just released this March, 2022. He also started a new movie this April called “57 Seconds” which is expected to film for approximately five weeks. At this rate, it doesn’t look like Morgan Freeman has any plans to slow down!
