Paul Freeman
This article is about the British actor. For the Bigfoot hunter see Paul Freeman (cryptozoologist).Paul Freeman (born
January 18 1943) is a
British actor.
Paul Freeman was born in
Hertfordshire,
England. He began his career in advertising and teaching and like many British actors he landed small roles in the theater appearing in productions of
A Midsummer Night's Dream and
Hamlet. He then went on to play starring roles in the
National Theatre and the
Royal Shakespeare Company and later co-founded his own theater group, the
Joint Stock Theatre Company, in
1974 together with director
Max Stafford-Clark.
In
1978 he made his British television debut in the acclaimed mini-series
Life of Shakespeare (
1978) and
Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years (
1981). Freeman also acted in the
ATV docudrama Death of a Princess, a controversial film about the execution of a
Saudi Arabian woman. In
1980 he began his movie career when he appeared in
The Long Good Friday alongside
Bob Hoskins and
The Dogs of War (1981) in which he met
Maggie Scott who went on to become his wife.
In the same year,
1981,
Steven Spielberg and
George Lucas chose Freeman to play the main villain, Rene Belloq, in
Raiders of the Lost Ark, the first of three movies depicting the exploits of archeologist and adventurer
Indiana Jones. The movie was a smash hit and Freeman was expected to play in the sequel as well, however
Spielberg decided to alter the story and thus
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom would be produced without Freeman.
The movie was a springboard for Freeman in
Hollywood and he continued playing villains both in Hollywood and in his native
Britain using his uncanny talent for foreign dialects. In 1988 he played
Professor Moriarty in
Without a Clue starring
Michael Caine as an untalented
Sherlock Holmes and in
1995,
Ivan Ooze in
Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers: The Movie for very little money.
Freeman continues working for television as well as in movies. He guest starred in hit shows such as
Monarch of the Glen,
ER,
Falcon Crest and
The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He also played in several mini-series such as
Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (
1989) and
The Final Cut (1995).
In
2004, Freeman played Angus,
Bobby Jones' caddie, in
Bobby Jones: A Stroke of Genius.
*
Paul Freeman at the
Internet Movie Database
