Morgan Freeman has had a successful career that has spanned almost forty years moving from small films that earnt him critical acclaim to the blockbuster.Along the way he has recognised by the Academy, the Golden Globes and the Screen Writers Guild making as well as becoming one of the most popular actors in the industry.Here we take a look back at his varied and successful career and pick his top five performances.
1. Shawshank Redemption
Freemans performance as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding in the adaptation of the Stephen King novel would earn the actor an Oscar and Golden Globe nomination for Best actor.Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a mild mannered banker, is convicted of murdering his wife and her lover.He is despised at first by the other inmates because of his introverted manner but he slowly forges an unlikely friendship with seasoned lifer Red and his gang.
Over a twenty year period Andy is able to maintain his sanity and dignity as he serves time for a crime he didnt commit whilst teaching the other inmates that hope is the ultimate means of survival.
Despite performing below par at the box office it was received well critically, going on to be nominated for seven Oscars including Best Picture.
Yet despite its lukewarm reception at the box office over the years since its release it has grown in popularity doing well on DVD and it often listed as one of the best movies.
2. Million Dollar Baby
Clint Eastwood directed, and also stared, in the role of Frankie Dunn, a down-on-his-luck former boxing manager who spends the twilight years of his life running a small, dilapidated gym in downtown Los Angeles.
Frankie's previous career was blighted by an injury to one of his prize fighters, Scrap (Morgan Freeman), who lost the sight in his right eye during a particularly brutal bout; Scrap now wiles away the hours working as a cleaner in Frankie's gym.
Wary of similar occurrences being inflicted on the prestigious young talent that passes before him, Frankie lets a succession of great boxers slip through his fingers.
But when the brash, confident young boxer Maggie Fitzgerald (Hilary Swank) strides into the gym, Frankie's life is irretrievably altered.
Initially refusing to train Maggie due to her gender and age, Frankie relents when faced with her tenacity, spirit, and burning ambition. The combination of Maggie's talent and Frankie's tutelage paves the way for the adroit fighter to rise steadily through the ranks of women's boxing, with the unlikely coupling forming a genuinely touching bond in the process.
For his role as Scrap Freeman won his first and only Academy award for Best Supporting Actor there were wins for Hilary Swank for Best Actress, Clint Eastwood for Best Director as well as Best Picture.
3. Driving Miss Daisy
The film opens in late-1940s Atlanta. Since Miss Daisy (Jessica Tandy) is becoming a menace behind the wheel, her son, Boolie (Dan Aykroyd), ignores her protests and hires Hoke, a black chauffeur.
When the feisty matron decides to resist necessity and walk to the store, the equally stubborn chauffeur follows her in her car. As he says to Boolie, "I used to rassle hogs down to the ground...ain't nary a hog got away from me yet."
But Hoke's methods are gentleness and patience, and as the years elapse in his ongoing tug-of-war with the temperamental Daisy, she begins to tacitly acknowledge his wisdom.
When she expresses annoyance over the demands of the nascent civil rights movement, Hoke points out to the Jewish woman the similarity between the attack on her synagogue and Klan attacks on black churches.
But it is only after many years together that they can finally admit to the depth of the friendship they have shared His role as Hoke earnt Freeman his first award, a Golden Globe for Best Actor as well as receiving a second Oscar nomination, the film went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards.
4. Street Smart
Caught unprepared with a deadline he can't miss, moral-free Manhattan journalist Jonathan Fisher (Christopher Reeve) completely fabricates an article about "Tyrone," a successful pimp.
The story becomes a sensation, and Jonathan is turned into a media star. But Jonathan's mendacity comes back to haunt him when a shrewd, vicious pimp named Fast Black (Morgan Freeman) wants to meet him, for "Tyrone's tale resembles his own life a little too closely.
Causing even greater trouble is the D.A.'s office, who wants to see Jonathan's notes (which don't exist), for evidence that could convict Fast Black of murder.
As a result, Jonathan finds himself caught in a vicious cycle of lies that could easily end his career--and maybe his life.
The role of Fast Black in Street Smart was to boost Morgan Freemans career as he received his first Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor.
5. Se7en
Gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, pride, and lust--these are the seven deadly sins that are being punished with unimaginable cruelty and calculation by an enigmatic killer in David Fincher's bleak thriller Seven.
Set in a perpetually gloomy unnamed city, the film follows Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a retiring police detective, as he experiences his final week on the job, reluctantly working with assertive newcomer Mills (Brad Pitt).
When an obese man is found brutally murdered in his home, the seasoned Somerset realizes this is no ordinary killing--someone tortured him because of his appetite.
Slayings that reflect the sins of greed and sloth soon follow, leading Somerset and Mills on a desperate search to find the mysterious John Doe, who is responsible for these methodical murders.
As the case builds to a startling conclusion, both Somerset and Mills become more involved than they ever could have imagined.
The film didnt earn Freeman an Oscar nomination but Se7en has gone on to become one of the most popular crime movies of the nineties, as well as further establishing Brad Pitt.
Morgan Freeman will next be seen returning to the role of Lucius Fox in The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins.
The Bucket List is released 15 February.
FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw
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