(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Mon 27 October 2025 16:45, UK
Most actors tend to name a small handful of people when reflecting on the idols and icons who influenced and inspired them, but Morgan Freeman has well over a dozen touchstones who’ve all made an impact on his career in one way or another.
Of course, there’s no limit on how many stars can influence another, but 15 sounds like a lot. They cover the entire breadth of cinema history from the ‘Golden Age’ to the modern day, and the one thing they have in common is that they left an indelible mark on contemporary cinema’s marquee exposition machine.
Strangely, even though he’s in with a decent shout at being named as Hollywood’s biggest Jack Nicholson fan, the three-time Academy Award-winning legend didn’t make the cut. Then again, Freeman isn’t obligated to be inspired by the actors he loves watching onscreen, so maybe that’s why he was omitted from the lengthy list.
Gary Cooper, Humphrey Bogart, and James Cagney were cited as inspirations because “they go right at the role, and that’s all they do,” something he always sought to emulate. Stacy Keach was also mentioned, which stands out as a little odd when Freeman openly lambasted him for bungling his lines and playing a major part in the performance he’s regretted for over 60 years.
Gregory Peck is another, which probably has a lot to do with him headlining the 1956 adaptation of Moby Dick, one of Freeman’s favourite movies of all time that happens to be based on his favourite book of all time. Clearly, he’s got a soft spot for the best the ‘Golden Age’ had to offer, but that’s barely the tip of the iceberg.
When The Oklahoman asked him to rattle off the folks he admired, the Oscar winner could barely stop himself. “De Niro, Brando, Bogart, Tracy, Muni, Gable, Holden, Hepburn, Davis,” he declared, before pivoting to the pictures that remind him of his youth. “I remember King Kong, Fay Wray. Claude Rains, The Invisible Man. I watch movies every day.”
That doesn’t even include his Unforgiven and Under Suspicion co-star Gene Hackman, whom he called somebody he idolised and lavished in praise, saying that “every time I go see him I just marvel at him.” Or José Ferrer, a performer he’d always admired from afar, to the point that when he realised his dream and got to work with him on a play, he was so awestruck that his opposite number told him to rein it in.
Plenty of the usual suspects are present and accounted for, with no actor of Freeman’s era apparently allowed to cite their acting inspirations without including Brando, but there’s a wide array of top-tier talents who each affected his approach in one way or another. Why just name one legend when 15 of them will do?
Every actor Morgan Freeman called an inspiration:
- Gary Cooper
- Humphrey Bogart
- James Cagney
- Stacy Keach
- Gregory Peck
- Robert De Niro
- Marlon Brando
- Spencer Tracy
- Paul Muni
- Clark Gable
- William Holden
- Katharine Hepburn
- Bette Davis
- Gene Hackman
- José Ferrer
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