My best friend always forwards me interesting “breaking news” emails from Memphis. He just forwarded me one that said actor Morgan Freeman has been involved in a serious car wreck in north Mississippi.
According to reports, Freeman and a female passenger were driving eastbound on Mississippi Highway in Tallahatchie County when his 1997 Nissan Maxima went off the road. Apparently, Freeman overcorrected to bring the car back on the road and flipped the Maxima several times. The emergency crews who showed up at the accident site had to use the jaws of life to retrieve Freeman and his passenger. Mississippi Highway Patrol spokesperson Ben Williams said that both were airlifted to the Regional Medical Center in Memphis, with Freeman in serious condition. Freeman has a link to Memphis in that he is the co-owner of the Ground Zero Blues Club there.
Freeman starred in the current blockbuster The Dark Knight, but he has been an actor for over forty years. He started out on television – even appearing on the Children’s Television Workshop staple of the early 70’s “The Electric Company.”
In the mid 70s, Freeman began appearing in films such as Blade and Coriolanus. He starred in Brubaker in 1980 with Robert Redford. In 1987, he garnered his first Oscar nomination for Street Smart. He would get another for playing the chauffeur Hoke in Driving Miss Daisy. That is one of my favorite performances and the final scene where he feeds Miss Daisy never fails to bring a tear to my eye.
Freeman continued getting good roles as he starred with Matthew Broderick and Denzel Washington in Glory, another of my favorites. He starred alongside Kevin Costner in 1991’s Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Clint Eastwood in 1992’s Unforgiven. He got his third Oscar nomination for his role in The Shawshank Redemption, but he would not win until he teamed up with Clint Eastwood again in 2004’s Million Dollar Baby.
Hopefully this great and respected actor will recover soon from his injuries.