The actor Morgan Freeman called “one of my movie heroes”
As blindingly obvious as it may seem, the best actors of any given generation tend to be the ones who inspire those who follow, with Morgan Freeman hardly the only star in his age bracket to call a ‘Golden Age’ icon a hero.
The adulation that greeted Marlon Brando ended up inspiring Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Jack Nicholson, John Goodman, and many more, while countless stars of the modern era have pointed to those names as influences of their own, with one hand constantly feeding the other in that respect.
Denzel Washington was mesmerised by Sidney Poitier, and he’s now in a position where people want to emulate him. Clint Eastwood said that the movies were invented for a guy like James Cagney, and much the same can be said about him now that he’s evolved into a timeless legend of the silver screen.
There aren’t many performers to have come along, turned acting upside down, and put their own unique spin on it, but realistically, there doesn’t need to be. Everyone learns from who came before, and then the folks who come after rinse and repeat. For Freeman, he bestowed heroic status upon an actor who also happens to be the all-time favourite of a close friend and co-star.
Michael Caine is about the biggest Humphrey Bogart fanboy there is, but Freeman is right up there after he explained to Collider how he sought to emulate the Casablanca, The Maltese Falcon, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and The African Queen figurehead off-screen, too.
“One night, one of my movie heroes, Humphrey Bogart, was on Jack Paar, and Humphrey was asked a question about pictures and autographs and the public. Bogart said, ‘I don’t owe the public anything but a good performance’. And I tried to take that to heart, but not quite so.”
When somebody told Freeman that he belonged to the public, he didn’t embrace that sentiment fully, but he didn’t go full ‘Bogey’, either. “I wanted to adopt Humphrey Bogart’s dictum, but it doesn’t work for me,” he continued. “I think I owe the public a little bit more than just a good performance. I owe them just a little bit of time… If I’m cornered.”
Freeman has instead opted to embrace his adoring public to a certain extent, but only until his patience runs out. Movie stars were a different breed back in Bogart’s day, in fairness, where they seemed to exist on a different plane than the general public.
In the modern age, social media and relentless press tours have made the most famous faces in Hollywood more open and personable than ever before, with Freeman seeking to strike the ideal balance by at least attempting to retain a shred of his mystique.
