Morgan Freeman: What You Don’t Know About The Beloved Actor

Academy Win

Although it’s hard to believe that it took so long, Freeman didn’t even win an Academy Award until the 77th Academy Awards in 2005. Of course, you recall he won Best Supporting Actor for playing Eddie “Scrap-Iron” Dupris in Million Dollar Baby. Before that, he had accumulated three nominations.

Previously, he was nominated for supporting actor in Street Smart and leading actor for both Driving Miss Daisy and the classic, The Shawshank Redemption.

Playing Mandela

For some time, Morgan Freeman hoped to work on a film about the legendary Nelson Mandela. Initially, Morgan Freeman hoped to adapt Nelson Mandela’s Long Walk to Freedom into a film script. However, the project to adapt the autobiography to film never got finalized.

Then in 2007, the star bought the movie rights to the book, Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation by John Carlin. With Clint Eastwood as director, Morgan Freeman played Mandela in Invictus with Matt Damon as Francois Pienaar, the rugby team captain.