Morgan Freeman
His motto: Always stay curious
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Many roles, which is his?
Who is Morgan Freeman?
We know Morgan Freeman from the films Purgatory of the Vanities; In the Shine of the Sun; Million Dollar Baby; Batman Begins and many others. He even played God twice.
Already at the age of twelve, he wins prizes for his performances. He serves four years in the US Air Force. He wants to be a jet pilot. He soon realizes that the military is not the place for him. And he knows better than to mess with military authority. These are answers to questions that were presented to him during an interview for the "Screen Actors Guild Foundation" in Oxford.
What he dislikes about his job
That you can watch yourself goofing off. Therefore, in this respect, he prefers acting at the theatre. There he has played roles in "Mother Courage and Her Children" and the play "Miss Daisy and Her Chauffeur", also known as a film, and of course in many more.
When he doesn't receive a call from his agent for 18 months, he thinks about what else he can do besides being an actor. Driving a taxi? Nah, chauffeur, that sounds a bit better. He prepares himself for that. Just before it starts, Paul Newmann calls: "I've got a part for you." After that, one thing led to another. So only Miss Daisy had the pleasure.
Committed
In 2012 he donates one million dollars to help get Barack Obama re-elected.
A frequent theme of his films is the fate of black people - their rights and oppression.
His voice
Morgan Freeman's deep voice is legendary and unmistakable. No wonder he works as a narrator, commentator and dubbing artist for countless series and TV shows. When narrating documentaries his voice has command and gravitas. When he speaks you listen. When he's not speaking into a microphone, his voice can be sometimes surprisingly quiet. Here you can read more about the projects he has leant his voice to: https://bit.ly/3kZg5oo
Car accident 2008
Morgan Freeman attributes his pain to a car accident in 2008. The car somersaults. Rescue cutters have to free him and his friend from the wreckage.
Multiple injuries: His arm and elbow are broken, and his shoulder is damaged. Despite complicated operations to restore the nerves, his left hand remains without function.
It's the fibromyalgia, he says.
Nowadays, when he feels unobserved, his arm may reach his shoulder and he moans. It hurts: when he walks, when he sits quietly, when he stands up, when he stumbles. It's more than painful. It is agony. He bears it.
He wears a compression glove on his hand. The pain feels like it's being crushed. He tries not to show it. But sometimes his face betrays him and you can see deep despair.
This is not the Morgan Freeman we are used to watching. It almost looks like he's playing another role... It's fibromyalgia, he says when asked. He says it's worst in the arm.
Agonizing pain changed his life.
Pilot, horseback riding, speeding around in cars, that was and is no more.
The former jet pilot can no longer fly, nor can he sail. He used to sail to the Caribbean sometimes to hide from the world. Switch off and read in peace and quiet. That has gone, too.
With only one working arm, driving is not as much fun as it was: with a gear shift, fast and boundless, always testing the car's capabilities. On his ranch, horses are grazing in the scorching heat. He can no longer ride them. He used to ride every day.
Back then he wanted to escape Mississippi and join the air force, today the ranch is his retreat.
(From an interview with Esquire magazine)
He´d rather be a beekeeper.
Morgan Freeman played the American president in Angel has fallen. In his life he doesn't want to be in a position of power. Beekeeper, that's more his thing. There are 26 hives on his ranch. He planted magnolias and lavender for the bees.
Let it be
When he says to let things be, that does not mean that you should do nothing. He is very committed to the rights of black people, describes himself as an actor who happens to be black. It refers for example to leaving animals in their natural habitat for example and not interfering too much.
Pain changes his life
In 2012, he announces that he is suffering from unbearable pain - diagnosed with fibromyalgia. Excruciating pain has changed his life.
Serenity
Swinging the golf club with one arm is something he has mastered.
Serenity. Serenity in dealing with the disease, that's what he's trying to do. Such setbacks in life have a reason, they are a signpost in another direction. He has to adapt.
He feels grateful that he can still work. He tries to work without rushing and takes specific time off. Satisfaction: Simply taking a quiet walk on his ranch in Mississippi.
Think about it!
What can we take from it?
Serenity and acceptance, two words that come up again and again when it comes to coping with illness. https://shamethepain.de/project/lady-gaga/ Giving up the defensive attitude. The disease is here. But there is also a whole lot of life left.
How do we manage to accept it? It's hard work. you have to get to the heart of it - our basic attitude towards ourselves, to our life, to the possibilities. We are sick, we are severely restricted, life changes, but it doesn't stop. It is also in our hands to fill this space with meaning. Emotional stability is very important. Hard work again. This is the message of Dr. Monika Flasnoecker, internist and prevention physician from Munich in her paper Dealing with diseases
My favorite movie with Morgan Freeman is: "An enchanted summer" (The Magic of Belle Island) He's so different in that one. It´s about Monty, a writer who has been drowning his writer's block in whiskey since his wife died and is in a wheelchair because of a traffic accident. Finnegan, one of the three daughters of a single mother, his neighbour, conquers his heart with her tenacity. She is aspiring to be a writer.
I like Monty's sense of humor, which is sometimes so dry, it could be British. And I wish I could be like him when he is met with expectations he doesn't want to live up to. I'm not talking about writer's block. I can relate to many aspects: in the everyday struggle of a single mother, in someone with writer's block, and in someone who can't get used to his new situation. Sometimes it needs help from outside.
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