Al Freeman Jr.
1934 - 2012Al Freeman, Jr., M.Ed. (born Albert Cornelius Freeman, Jr. on March 21, 1934, in San Antonio, Texas) is an African-American actor and director.
Freeman has made appearances in many films, such as My Sweet Charlie, Finian's Rainbow, and Malcolm X, and television series such as The Cosby Show, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street and The Edge of Night. He is mostly recognized for his portrayal of Police Captain Ed Hall on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live, a role he played from 1972 through 1985, with recurring roles in 1988 and 2000. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for that role, the first African-American actor to be so honored. He left the show briefly to appear in the network's controversial sitcom Hot L Baltimore. During that period, "Ed" was played by another actor, Arthur Pendleton.
He was also a director of One Life to Live, and was one of the first, if not the first, African-Americans to direct a soap opera.
After leaving One Life to Live, Freeman appeared in the motion picture Down in the Delta. His Broadway theatre credits include Look to the Lilies, Blues for Mister Charlie, and Medea. His portrayal of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in the motion picture Malcolm X earned him the 1995 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. Coincidently, he had previously played Malcolm X in the 1979 miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations.
Freeman currently teaches acting as a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C..
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Malcolm X
Spike Lee
Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
Malcolm X
Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored
Tim Reid
Al Freeman, Jr., Phylicia Rashād
This film relates the story of a tightly connected Afro-American community informally called Colored Town where the inhabitants live and depend on each other in a world where racist oppression is everywhere, as told by a boy called Cliff who spent his childhood there. Despite this, we see the life of the community in all its joys and sorrows, of those that live there while others decide to leave for a better life north. For those remaining, things come to a serious situation when one prominent businessman is being muscled out by a white competitor using racist intimidation. In response, the community must make the decision of whether to submit meekly like they always have, or finally fight for their rights.
Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored
Dutchman
Anthony Harvey
Shirley Knight, Al Freeman, Jr.
A young conservative black man, minding his own business, rides a nearly empty subway car. The only other passenger, a blonde vixen looking for trouble, sizes him up. Sexual tension, racial bigotry and righteous fury collide in a razor's edge confrontation between this unlikely pair.
Dutchman
Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
William Greaves
Al Freeman, Jr.
Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice documents the dramatic life and turbulent times of the pioneering African American journalist, activist, suffragist and anti-lynching crusader of the post-Reconstruction period. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison reads selections from Wells' memoirs and other writings in this winner of more than 20 film festival awards.
Ida B. Wells: A Passion for Justice
For Pete's Sake
James F. Collier
Billy Graham, Robert Sampson
"For Pete's Sake" is the heartfelt and inspiring story of a man (Robert Sampson) struggling to come to terms with his wife's (Pippa Scott) untimely death, while raising their young son (Johnny Jenson). Sam Groom portrays the family's pastor and Terri Garr debuts as a wayward young woman in this entertaining and thought-provoking comedy-drama.
For Pete's Sake
Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker
Harry Moses
Сэмюэл Леброн Джексон, Sam Waterston
The story of Johnson Whittaker, one of the first African-American cadets admitted to West Point. Tied down and beaten by his fellow cadets
Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker
Finian's Rainbow
Francis Ford Coppola
Fred Astaire, Petula Clark
An Irish immigrant and his daughter arrive in Kentucky with a magical piece of gold that alters the course of several lives, including those of a struggling farmer and an African American community facing persecution from a bigoted politician.
Finian's Rainbow
