This ever-popular American actor has grown into one of the most respected figures in modern US cinema, with an authoritative voice and calm demeanor. Morgan Porterfield Freeman was born on June 1, 1937, in Memphis, Tennessee, to teacher Mayme Edna (Revere) and barber Morgan Porterfield Freeman. Between 1955 and 1959, the young Freeman attended Los Angeles City College before joining the United States Air Force as a mechanic. His first exposure to the dramatic arts was on stage, where he appeared in an all-African American production of the exuberant musical Hello, Dolly!
He continued to work on stage throughout the 1970s, winning Drama Desk and Clarence Derwent Awards and receiving a Tony Award nomination for his performance in The Mighty Gents in 1978. In 1980, he received two Obie Awards for his performances in Mother Courage and Her Children and as Shakespeare’s anti-hero Coriolanus at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 1984, Freeman received another Obie Award for his performance as The Messenger in the acclaimed Brooklyn Academy of Music production of Lee Breuer’s The Gospel at Colonus, and in 1985, he received the Drama-Logue Award for the same role. In 1987, Freeman won his fourth Obie Award for his performance as Hoke Coleburn in Alfred Uhry’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Driving Miss Daisy. In 1990, Freeman played Petruchio opposite Tracey Ullman in The Taming of the Shrew at the New York Shakespeare Festival. In 2008, Freeman returned to Broadway, co-starring with Frances McDormand and Peter Gallagher in Clifford Odets’ drama The Country Girl, directed by Mike Nichols.
How long was Morgan Freeman married to his first wife?
Freeman married his first wife, Jeanette Adair Bradshaw, in 1967. After 12 years of marriage, they divorced legally in 1979.
