The demanding roles Morgan Freeman hates playing: “It’s too much work”
Morgan Freeman doesn’t need to prove himself to anyone. He took care of that several decades ago when he became a Hollywood icon. Starting with his breakthrough roles in Glory and Driving Miss Daisy in 1989, he has been a cinematic institution, with his velvety voice and tall, lean stature becoming instantly recognisable.
Although he became a household name in the ‘90s, Freeman had been acting since the early ‘60s, toiling away in the trenches as a supporting actor with only a few scenes here and there. At the same time, however, he was appearing in the theatre, making his Broadway debut in the 1968 all-Black production of Hello Dolly! He could easily have built a career as a stage actor and never stepped in front of a camera. Although most filmgoers think of him as a Hollywood star, his success in the theatre is almost as illustrious. He even earned a Tony Award nomination in 1978 for the play The Mighty Gents.
If it hadn’t been for his career on the stage, Freeman might never have broken through as a movie star. In 1987, he was part of the original cast of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Driving Miss Daisy. Two years later, when it was adapted for the screen, he was the first choice to reprise the role of a Black chauffeur who takes a job with a racist elderly woman.
Even after he became a Hollywood celebrity, however, Freeman returned to the theatre multiple times, including in 2008 when he joined Frances McDorman for the revival of The Country Girl, directed by legendary director Mike Nichols.
Despite the important role that theatre has played in his career, Freeman downplayed his long association with the stage in an interview with The New York Times when the production was getting underway. He even implied that he was ready to leave it behind altogether. “I really spent 20 years in theatre trying to get into the movies,” he said. “From childhood that’s what I wanted to do. Mostly I don’t want to do stage. It’s too much work. Movies, you do a little work, make a lot of money and move on. I like that. And I think I’ve paid my dues.”
No one would argue with the Oscar-winning actor about that, but he clearly wasn’t finished with the theatre, no matter what he said. Three years later, he was back on Broadway starring opposite John Lithgow in Dustin Lance Black’s play 8, which centred on the court case that led to the legalisation of same-sex marriage in California.
It turned out to be the last straw. In a 2024 interview on Good Morning Britain, the Shawshank Redemption star revealed that during one of the performances, he forgot his lines. “I can’t tell you how terrifying that is,” he said (via The Irish News). “In the movies you won’t get that, if you forget your lines you just say, ‘Okay what was that line again?’ And somebody gives it to you. You can’t do that on stage, and I’m terrified to go back and try it.”
The good news in both of those interviews is what he didn’t say. At no point in either conversation did he suggest that he plans to retire from movies. In fact, the 87-year-old has consistently said that he plans to continue working for as long as possible.
