Bert Freed

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Bertram "Bert" Freed (born November 3, 1919 in the Bronx , New York City , † August 2, 1994 in Sechelt , British Columbia , Canada ) was an American actor .

life and career

After studying at Pennsylvania State University , Bert Freed began working as a stage actor , making his Broadway debut in September 1942 in the play Strip for Action . Until 1958 he could be seen in a total of eight other Broadway productions, although after his film debut in a small role in Elia Kazan's crime strip Boomerang in 1947, he increasingly shifted his focus to film and television work.

By 1986 Bert Freed appeared in a total of over 180 film and television productions. He played in supporting roles - with his broad stature and distinctive facial features, he often played hard-boiled and sometimes brutal men, most often he played policemen, soldiers, businessmen or gangsters. In Stanley Kubrick's classic film, Ways to Fame , in 1957 he played a French sergeant who had to prepare for an execution and exchanged the last words of the film with Kirk Douglas ' character. His prominent film roles also included the father of Christopher Jones in the society satire Wild in the Streets (1968) and a brutal villain in the film Billy Jack (1971) by and with Tom Laughlin . In the 1970s, his previously so frequent film appearances in supporting roles became less frequent, from then on he played predominantly television roles.

Freed was also the first actor to portray the character of Columbo , later made world-famous by Peter Falk : he played the investigator in the 1960 episode Enough Rope of the television series The Chevy Mystery Show , eight years before Falk took over the role. The authors William Link and Richard Levinson developed the play Murder According to a Recipe from this episode , which later became the first episode of the classic Columbo television series. The episode with Freed as Columbo is difficult to access today, he is said to already have some of the characteristics of the later Falk-Columbos in its portrayal, but in contrast to this, it is clearly more intimidating with his physique. Freed was also featured in other television series such as Alfred Hitchcock , The Munsters , Mini-Max , Bonanza , A Cage Full of Heroes , Charlie's Angels , A Colt Just In Case and Knight Rider . After appearing in the television film series Junge Schicksale , he retired from acting in 1986.

Bert Freed died of a heart attack in August 1994 at the age of 74 while on a fishing trip in Canada with his son. From his marriage to Nancy Lee from 1956 until his death, he had two children.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Bert Freed | Biography, Movie Highlights and Photos | AllMovie. Accessed December 1, 2018 .
  2. ^ The Broadway League: Bert Freed - Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB. Accessed December 1, 2018 .
  3. ↑ Billy Jack (1971) - TC Frank | Cast and Crew | AllMovie. Accessed December 1, 2018 .
  4. ^ Enough Rope (IMDb). Accessed December 1, 2018 .
  5. ↑ Columbo poster. Accessed December 1, 2018 .
  6. ^ Columbo: an origin story . In: The Columbophile . February 17, 2018 ( wordpress.com [accessed December 1, 2018]).
personal data
SURNAME Freed, Bert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Freed, Bertram (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 3, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Bronx , New York City , United States
DATE OF DEATH 2nd August 1994
Place of death Sechelt , British Columbia , Canada