Al Freeman Jr.

Acting

Al Freeman Jr.

Born 1934-03-21 · San Antonio, Texas, USA

Al Freeman, Jr. (March 21, 1934 – August 9, 2012) was an American actor and director. Freeman made appearances in many films, such as My Sweet Charlie, Finian's Rainbow, and Malcolm X, and television series such as The Cosby Show, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street and The Edge of Night. He is mostly recognized for his portrayal of Police Captain Ed Hall on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live, a role he played from 1972 through 1985, with recurring roles in 1988 and 2000. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for that role, the first African-American actor to be so honored. He left the show briefly to appear in the network's controversial sitcom Hot L Baltimore. During that period, "Ed" was played by another actor, Arthur Pendleton. He was also a director of One Life to Live, and was one of the first, if not the first, African-Americans to direct a soap opera. After leaving One Life to Live, Freeman appeared in the motion picture Down in the Delta. His Broadway theatre credits include Look to the Lilies, Blues for Mister Charlie, and Medea. His portrayal of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in the motion picture Malcolm X earned him the 1995 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. Coincidently, he had previously played Malcolm X in the 1979 miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations. Freeman also taught acting as a professor at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Description above from the Wikipedia article Al Freeman, Jr., licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Malcolm X poster
7.6

A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.

Malcolm X

1992

The Detective poster
5.9

New York City Police detective Joe Leland investigates the grisly murder of Teddy Leikman, the gay son of a politically influential department store owner. While investigating, he discovers links to official corruption in NYC in this drama that delves into a world of sex and drugs, homophobia, homosexuality and bisexuality.

The Detective

1968

Finian's Rainbow poster
5.9

An Irishman and his daughter arrive in the American South with a stolen pot of gold, hoping to make their fortune. Pursued by a leprechaun desperate to recover his treasure, they become entangled in a battle over land, love, and prejudice in Rainbow Valley—where the gold’s magic turns wishes, and lives, upside down.

Finian's Rainbow

1968

Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker poster
6.3

The story of Johnson Whittaker, one of the first African-American cadets admitted to West Point. Tied down and beaten by his fellow cadets

Assault at West Point: The Court-Martial of Johnson Whittaker

1994

Castle Keep poster
5.7

During the Battle of the Bulge, an anachronistic count shelters a ragtag squad of Americans in his isolated castle hoping they will defend it against the advancing Germans.

Castle Keep

1969

Seven Hours to Judgment poster
4.4

A distraught husband kidnaps the judge who freed his wife's killers on insufficient evidence. He gives him seven hours to find evidence that will put them away, or he'll kill his wife.

Seven Hours to Judgment

1988

Torpedo Run poster
6.1

A submarine commander is on a relentless pursuit of a Japanese aircraft carrier in the South Seas during World War II.

Torpedo Run

1958

Perry Mason Returns poster
7.2

When his former secretary is accused of a murder, Perry Mason gives up a judgeship to defend her.

Perry Mason Returns

1985

The Lost Man poster
4.3

A gang of black militants plots to rob a factory to finance their "revolutionary struggle."

The Lost Man

1969

Ensign Pulver poster
6.5

1945, on an old cargo ship somewhere deep in the Pacific ocean: Captain Morton strives to become commander, so he demands the maximum quality of work from his crew, without granting them any freedom or favors - ignoring that they're thousand of miles away from the front. In one word: he drives his crew crazy. They are near mutiny, but no-one dares to do the first step. Until Ensign Pulver plays a prank on the captain that triggers fatal consequences...

Ensign Pulver

1964

Down in the Delta poster
6.3

A single mother plagued by alcohol and drug addictions is sent with her children from Chicago to her ancestral home in the Mississippi Delta, to live with her uncle and aunt for the summer.

Down in the Delta

1998

My Sweet Charlie poster
6.8

A pregnant white Southern girl and a black New York lawyer, both on the run in rural Texas, meet up in a boarded-up, abandoned house and realize they both need each other in order to survive.

My Sweet Charlie

1970

Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored poster
4.2

A narrator tells the story of his childhood years in a tightly knit Afro-American community in the deep south under racial segregation.

Once Upon a Time... When We Were Colored

1996

Black Like Me poster
6.2

Black Like Me is the true account of journalist and author John Griffin's experiences when he passed as a black man.

Black Like Me

1964

The World Premiere of 'Finian's Rainbow' poster
NR

This documentary has interviews with actors and the director as they arrive for the 1968 New York world premiere of "Finian's Rainbow."

The World Premiere of 'Finian's Rainbow'

1968

This Rebel Breed poster
6.8

To combat the problem of drug-dealing juvenile delinquents operating in racial gangs, two recent police academy graduates are sent to a local high school, posing as students. [Initially released in theaters in 1960 as "This Rebel Breed", it was re-released as "The Black Rebels" five years later, re-edited with the addition of a handful of dialogue-free scenes of youths making out in a bedroom, with partial female nudity.]

This Rebel Breed

1960

A Fable poster
4.5

A black radical's ex-wife and children establish a new family unit with a Caucasian man, but he eventually returns to violently besiege them inside their home.

A Fable

1971

Boy Meets Girl poster
10.0

Sean, a twenty-something burned-out baseball player, returns home in an attempt to keep his parents' marriage together. He unexpectedly falls in love with Lena, a waitress at his parents' restaurant, the eve before her wedding. He convinces everyone he's about to make it big, prompting her to question her impending marriage.

Boy Meets Girl

1993

To Be Young, Gifted and Black poster
7.0

A mosaic biopic on Lorraine Hansberry, based on the stage play combining her unpublished writings, letters, and diaries.

To Be Young, Gifted and Black

1972

For Pete's Sake poster
7.5

"For Pete's Sake" is the heartfelt and inspiring story of a man (Robert Sampson) struggling to come to terms with his wife's (Pippa Scott) untimely death, while raising their young son (Johnny Jenson). Sam Groom portrays the family's pastor and Terri Garr debuts as a wayward young woman in this entertaining and thought-provoking comedy-drama.

For Pete's Sake

1966

The Troublemaker poster
5.7

A naive chicken farmer from New Jersey moves to Greenwich Village to open a coffee house.

The Troublemaker

1964

The Chicago Conspiracy Trial poster
6.0

A BBC-produced docudrama reconstructing the trial of the Chicago Eight, using courtroom transcripts as its primary source. Directed by Christopher Burstall, the film dramatizes the prosecution of anti–Vietnam War protesters charged with conspiracy and incitement, presenting the proceedings as a precise trial reenactment grounded in documented testimony rather than fictionalized narrative.

The Chicago Conspiracy Trial

1970

Sniper's Ridge poster
7.0

A combat unit under Capt. Tombol's command undertakes a perilous final patrol amidst heightened tensions, despite an imminent Korean War treaty. Tragically, Tombol steps on a "Bouncing Betty" landmine.

Sniper's Ridge

1961

Dutchman poster
4.8

A young conservative black man, minding his own business, rides a nearly empty subway car. The only other passenger, a blonde vixen looking for trouble, sizes him up. Sexual tension, racial bigotry and righteous fury collide in a razor's edge confrontation between this unlikely pair.

Dutchman

1966

Behind the camera