By StephanieLee Elliott
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and narrator. Throughout a career spanning five decades and multiple film genres, he has received numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Screen Actors Guild Award as well as a nomination for a Tony Award. He has also been awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2008, an AFI Life Achievement Award in 2011, the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2012, and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award in 2018.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Freeman was raised in Mississippi, where he began acting in school plays. He studied theater arts in Los Angeles and appeared in stage productions in his early career. He rose to fame in the 1970s for his role in the children’s television series The Electric Company. Freeman then appeared in the Shakespearean plays Coriolanus and Julius Caesar, the former of which earned him an Obie Award. In 1978, he received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play for his role as Zeke in the Richard Wesley play The Mighty Gents.
Freeman received the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Clint Eastwood‘s sports drama Million Dollar Baby (2004). His other Oscar-nominated roles are in Street Smart (1987), Driving Miss Daisy (1989), The Shawshank Redemption (1994), and Invictus (2009). Other notable roles include in Glory (1989), Lean on Me (1989), Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991), Unforgiven (1992), Se7en (1995), Amistad (1997), Gone Baby Gone (2007), and The Bucket List (2007). He also portrayed Lucius Fox in Christopher Nolan‘s The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012) and starred in the action films Wanted (2008), Red (2010), Oblivion (2013), Now You See Me (2013), and Lucy (2014).
Known for his distinctive voice, he has narrated numerous documentary projects including The Long Way Home (1997), March of the Penguins (2005), Through the Wormhole (2010–2017), The Story of God with Morgan Freeman (2016–2019), Our Universe (2022) and Life on Our Planet (2023). He made his directorial debut with the drama Bopha! (1993). He founded film production company Revelations Entertainment with business partner Lori McCreary in 1996 where he produced numerous projects including CBS political drama Madam Secretary from 2014 to 2019.
TODAY’S ALMANAC
Question of the Day
Advice of the Day
Home Hint of the Day
Word of the Day
Puzzle of the Day
Born
- Francis Edgar Stanley (American inventor) –
- Freelan Oscar Stanley (American inventor) –
- Marilyn Monroe (actress) –
- Andy Griffith (actor) –
- Pat Boone (singer) –
- Morgan Freeman (actor) –
- Teri Polo (actress) –
- Heidi Klum (model) –
- Alanis Morissette (singer & songwriter) –
Died
- James Buchanan (15th U.S. president) –
- Leslie Howard (actor) –
- Helen Keller (blind, deaf, and mute author) –
- Yves Saint Laurent (fashion designer) –
- Julian and Adrian Riester (92-year-old identical twin friars died hours apart, each from heart failure) –
- Ann B. Davis (actress) –
Events
- Earthquake shook Plymouth, MA–
- Kentucky admitted into the Union as the 15th state–
- Tennessee admitted into the Union as the 16th state–
- Captain James Lawrence ordered crew, Don’t give up the ship!–
- A lake appeared this month in Salton Sink, Colorado Desert, California–
- Corning Glass Works in N.Y. announced the invention of photosensitive glass–
- The Cable News Network (CNN) made its debut–
- Thirteen-year old Katharine Close spelled “ursprache” correctly to win the 79th Annual Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. She was the first champion ever from New Jersey–
Weather
- Hail up to four inches in diameter fell in parts of Maine during a series of severe thunderstorms across central and northern New England–
- Thirty-nine degrees F in Springfield, Illinois–
- An EF-3 tornado caused extensive damage from Westfield to Charlton, Massachusetts–
- 1” snow, Delta Junction, Alaska–
COURTESY www.almanac.com
