CLASS ACT: Morgan Freeman, 77th Annual Academy
Awards, 2005 When I first set eyes on Freeman, as Fast Black in "Street Smart," I wanted to run very far away from his
soft-spoken, lethal killer, as insinuating as a snake. You couldn't take your
eyes off him. The man claims Gary Cooper
... more as his first acting
inspiration, and you can see the grand Cooper quiet, that contained authority,
in Freeman's style. And he shares the kind of natural elegance Cooper brought to
his screwball comedy and Western heroes and especially, very late in his career,
the aging Casanova (often tuxedoed) in "Love in the Afternoon." In roles that
range from low-down pimp to end-of-the-line convict to laissez-faire deity,
Freeman says he always "gravitates to gravitas." In "Unforgiven" and "Million Dollar Baby," he anchors Clint Eastwood -- as actor and director -- in bedrock
integrity. And that uncompromising sense of self even saves "The Bucket List" from totally sinking into crass
sentimentality. In the wake of three nominations ("Street Smart," "Driving Miss Daisy," "The Shawshank Redemption"), Mr. Freeman finally took
his Oscar home in 2005, for his deeply resonant performance in "Million Dollar
Baby" as Eddie Dupris, failed boxer, wise trainer. The monochromatic gentleman
strode the red carpet in a black, satin-collared tux with velvet-striped
trousers, ebony shirt and shades. (Kevin Mazur/WireImage.com)Close