Line #6 Creator/MorganFreeman


1	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1588903893053161000
2	%% Previous threads:
3	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1300294260005061200
4	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1482451363078155800
5	%% Please do not change or remove without starting a new thread.
6	%%
7	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_morgan_freeman.png]]
8	%%
9	->''"It was an honor to be portrayed by the golden-voiced Morgan Freeman. That man could read the phone book and make it sound interesting. ''(reading from a phone book)'' '[[FiveFiveFive 5-5-5]], 3-4-9-2'. Mmmm... just listen to that rich molasses."''
10	-->-- '''Vitruvius''' ([[ButHeSoundsHandsome voiced by Morgan Freeman]]) in "Behind the Bricks", ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie''
11
12	[[AC:You are now reading this entry with my voice, in your head. [[CantUnhearIt Well, my, my, isn't that something.]]]]
13
14	Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee) ''[[MemeticBadass is]]'' {{God}} [[note]]After Creator/GeorgeBurns stepped down from the role[[/note]]. His distinctive and authoritative voice and his [[BaritoneOfStrength calm, measured tones]] lend dignity and gravitas to everything he says. And yes, we DO mean everything. See the page quote if you don't believe us. The [[CozyVoiceForCatastrophes comforting qualities of his voice]] are only equalled by Creator/StephenFry (and maybe Creator/DavidAttenborough). Watching them [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C83pEooe3m4 have a conversation in a blues club]] is exactly as awesome as it sounds.
15
16	The quintessential MagicalNegro actor, Freeman is probably best known for his roles as God in ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' and ''Film/EvanAlmighty'', Lucius Fox in ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'', and was the {{narrator}} of ''Film/MarchOfThePenguins'' and the ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' remake. Other well-known roles include in ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy'', ''Film/{{Glory}}'', ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'', ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'', ''Film/{{Se7en}}'', and ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'', for which he won the 2004 [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] for Best Supporting Actor. Considering he spent years trying to live down his roles of "Easy Reader" and "Vincent the Vegetable Vampire" on ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971'', he's not complaining. He also played the President of the United States in ''Film/DeepImpact'' and ''Film/AngelHasFallen'', and South African president UsefulNotes/NelsonMandela in ''Film/{{Invictus}}''. (Interestingly, South Africa is also the setting of his only directorial effort to date, 1993's ''Bopha!''). Since early 2010, he has performed the voiceover spiel in the open of the ''[[Creator/{{CBS}} CBS Evening News]]'', replacing a 2006 spiel done by Walter Cronkite, who died a few months prior. He is also voice of Visa in the commercials, most notably those done for the [[UsefulNotes/OlympicGames 2008 Summer Olympics, the 2010 Winter Olympics, the 2012 Summer Olympics]], and the UsefulNotes/SuperBowl. He's the host of ''Through the Wormhole'' on The Science Channel, a show which hopes to tackle some of the greater mysteries of life and existence. If anyone can explain it, it's Morgan Freeman. See [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/The-Morgan-Freeman-Chain-Of-Command-full.jpg this]] for a good summation of his career.
17
18	He also participated in Creator/KenBurns' documentary ''Series/TheCivilWar'', voicing UsefulNotes/FrederickDouglass and several other Black writers of the era. He also lent his golden voice to ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'' as Vitruvius, which is his first and only non-narrator voice-over role in an animated film to date. He also executive-produces the 2014 Creator/{{CBS}} GovernmentProcedural series ''Series/MadamSecretary''.
19
20	He was the "voice" of Ride/{{Disney\|Theme Parks}}'s The Hall of Presidents attraction during the UsefulNotes/BarackObama years.
21
22	Also, see [[http://xkcd.com/462/ this]] Webcomic/{{xkcd}} comic, as well as [[http://thechive.com/2010/07/22/morgan-freeman-is-the-new-old-spice-man-8-photos/ this]] parody of Advertising/TheManYourManCouldSmellLike. According to ''Webcomic/JoeLovesCrappyMovies'', [[EvenTheGuysWantHim even the guys]] [[http://www.digitalpimponline.com/strips.php?title=movie&id=452 want him]].
23
24	Not to be mistaken for a relative of [[VideoGame/HalfLife Gordon Freeman]], as awesome and bearded as they both are. (By proxy, [[FanFic/HalfLifeFullLifeConsequences John Freeman]] is also out.) Neither so with [[ComicStrip/TheBoondocks Robert]] [[WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks Freeman]], as much as they fit the description of a CoolOldGuy. Nor with Creator/MartinFreeman, although seeing these two actors in same film playing long lost relatives would be [[RuleOfFunny awesome]] (What? It's not like that sort of thing hasn't been [[Film/Twins1988 done before]]). Nor with Creator/CrispinFreeman. Nor with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_Friedman Milton Friedman]], although having Morgan Freeman read some of his works would make them a lot easier to get through.
25
26	----
27	!!Filmography
28
29	[[AC:Film]]
30
31	* ''Film/{{Brubaker}}'' (1980) as Walter
32	* ''Film/{{Teachers\|1984}}'' (1984) as Lewis
33	* ''Film/{{Marie\|1985}}'' (1985) as Charles Traughber
34	* ''Film/{{Street Smart\|1987}}'' (1987) as Leo Smalls/Fast Black
35	* ''Film/{{Glory}}'' (1989) as John Rawlins
36	* ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy'' (1989) as Hoke Colburn
37	* ''Film/LeanOnMe'' (1989) as Joe Louis Clark
38	* ''Film/JohnnyHandsome'' (1989) as Lt. Drones
39	* ''Film/RobinHoodPrinceOfThieves'' (1991) as Azeem Edin Bashir Al Bakir
40	* ''Film/{{Unforgiven}}'' (1992) as Ned Logan
41	* ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption'' (1994) as Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding
42	* ''Film/{{Outbreak}}'' (1995) as General Billy Ford
43	* ''Film/{{Se7en}}'' (1995) as Detective Lieutenant William Somerset
44	* ''Film/ChainReaction'' (1996) as Paul Shannon
45	* ''Film/{{Amistad}}'' (1997) as Theodore Joadson
46	* ''Literature/AlexCross'' as Alex Cross
47	** ''Film/KissTheGirls'' (1997)
48	** ''Film/AlongCameASpider'' (2001)
49	* ''Film/DeepImpact'' (1998) as President Beck
50	* ''Film/HardRain'' (1998) as Jim
51	* ''Film/NurseBetty'' (2000) as Charlie
52	* ''Film/UnderSuspicion'' (2000) as Victor
53	* ''Film/TheSumOfAllFears'' (2002) as DCI William Cabot
54	* ''Film/HighCrimes'' (2002) as Charlie Grimes
55	* ''Film/BruceAlmighty'' (2003) as God
56	** ''Film/EvanAlmighty'' (2007)
57	* ''Film/{{Dreamcatcher}}'' (2003) as Colonel Abraham Curtis
58	* ''Film/MillionDollarBaby'' (2004) as Eddie "Scrap Iron" Dupris
59	* ''[[Film/WarOfTheWorlds2005 War of the Worlds]]'' (2005) as Narrator
60	* ''Film/TheDarkKnightTrilogy'' as Lucius Fox
61	** ''Film/BatmanBegins'' (2005)
62	** ''Film/TheDarkKnight'' (2008)
63	** ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' (2012)
64	* ''Film/MarchOfThePenguins'' (2005) as Narrator
65	* ''Film/AnUnfinishedLife'' (2005) as Mitch Bradley
66	* ''Film/{{Unleashed}}'' (2005) as Sam
67	* ''Film/{{Edison}}'' (2005) as Ashford
68	* ''Film/LuckyNumberSlevin'' (2006) as The Boss
69	* ''Film/GoneBabyGone'' (2007) as Jack Doyle
70	* ''Film/TheBucketList'' (2007) as Carter Chambers
71	* ''Film/FeastOfLove'' (2007) as Harry Stevenson
72	* ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' (2008) as Sloan
73	* ''Film/TheLoveGuru'' (2008) as Narrator
74	* ''Film/{{Invictus}}'' (2009) as Nelson Mandela
75	* ''Film/{{Red\|2010}}'' (2010) as Joe Matheson
76	* ''Film/DolphinTale'' (2012) as Dr. [=McCarthy=]
77	** ''Dolphin Tale 2'' (2014)
78	* ''Film/OlympusHasFallen'' (2013) as Allan Trumbull
79	** ''Film/LondonHasFallen'' (2016)
80	** ''Film/AngelHasFallen'' (2019)
81	* ''Film/{{Oblivion\|2013}}'' (2013) as Beech
82	* ''Film/NowYouSeeMe'' (2013) as Thaddeus Bradley
83	** ''Film/NowYouSeeMe2'' (2016)
84	* ''Film/LastVegas'' (2013) as Archie
85	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie'' (2014) as Vitruvius
86	* ''Film/{{Transcendence}}'' (2014) as Joseph Tagger
87	* ''Film/{{Lucy}}'' (2014) as Professor Norman
88	* ''Film/LastKnights'' (2015) as Bartok
89	* ''Film/Ted2'' (2015) as Patrick Meighan
90	* ''[[Film/BenHur2016 Ben-Hur]]'' (2016) as Sheikh Ilderim
91	* ''[[Film/GoingInStyle2017 Going in Style]]'' (2017) as Willie
92	* ''Film/TheNutcrackerAndTheFourRealms'' (2018) as Drosselmeyer
93	* ''Film/Coming2America'' (2021) as Himself
94	* ''Film/TheHitmansWifesBodyguard'' (2021) as Michael Bryce Sr.
95	----
96	!!Tropes
97
98	* CreatorBacklash: Don't ask Morgan Freeman about playing Easy Reader on ''Series/TheElectricCompany1971''. He doesn't want to talk about it.
99	* PlayingAgainstType: Zig-Zagged. Watching him play the murderous pimp Fast Black in ''Street Smart'' may shock viewers today, but Freeman played the role while he was still rising to stardom and hadn't yet established a common character type. Despite it being so at odds with Freeman's current public image, ''Street Smart'' isn't an Old Shame, Freeman is very proud of it and considers Fast Black to be one of his best performances.
100	* PlayingWithCharacterType: In what has actually become a sort of type casting itself, Morgan Freeman, who is known for playing "[[MagicalNegro wise old man]]" characters, sometimes plays "wise old man characters... who turn out to be evil", with ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' being a good example of this.
101	* StarDerailingRole: Yes, he actually did have a couple of these. ''Literature/MollFlanders'' and ''Chain Reaction'' bombed at the box office (somewhat averted with the latter, thanks to overseas gross) and were poorly received, resulting in Freeman's star power falling for about seven years after that.
102	* StarMakingRole: Hoke Coburn in ''Film/DrivingMissDaisy'' is widely considered to be Freeman's, but Freeman himself considers it to be playing Fast Black in the 1987 film ''Street Smart'', which earned his first Academy Award nomination.
103	* TypeCasting: Freeman currently provides the image for the {{Typecasting}} index page. He's often (though not always) a [[CoolOldGuy wise old]] [[MagicalNegro black man]], usually some sort of authority figure; and he's famous for his smoothly deep voice, which is considered awesome enough that he's often played a {{narrator}} role (especially in {{documentar\|y}}ies). Though at least he's not known only for being [[Series/TheElectricCompany1971 Easy Reader]].

Context Creator / MorganFreeman