Hall of Fame: Al Freeman Jr.

Al Freeman Jr.

2009 Soap Opera Hall of Fame Inductee

• Ben Lee, The Edge of Night
• Ed Hall, One Life To Live
• Director, One Life To Live

The first African American to win a Daytime Emmy, Albert Cornelius "Al" Freeman, Jr. was born March 21, 1934, in San Antonio, Texas. His father was Albert Cornelius Sr., who was a jazz pianist and actor. His mother was the former Lottie Brisette. He was married Sevara E. Clemon on January 8, 1960; they separated, c. 1986.Freeman fell into acting while studying pre-law at Los Angeles City College, where he won the Outstanding Drama Student award in 1957.

After a stint in the Air Force after graduation, Freeman began his celebrated career in theater, film and television with a series of plays on Broadway. In 1962, he starred in Tiger Tiger Burning Bright with Ellen Holly, his future co-star on One Life To Live. The rest of the cast of the play reads like a Who's Who of African American actors: Claudia McNeil, Cicely Tyson, Diana Sands, Roscoe Lee Browne, Alvin Ailey, and Billy Dee Williams. Two years later he was acclaimed for his roles in Blues for Mr. Charlie and LeRoi Jone's Slave.

It was another LeRoi Jones play, the highly controversial Dutchman, that made Freeman one of the most sought after black actors in the country. He went on to star in the film version of Dutchman in 1967, and then found other movie work in The Detective, Finian's Rainbow, and A Fable, a film version of Slave that Freeman directed and starred in. Television work followed as the actor guested on The Defenders, The FBI, and the TV movie My Sweet Charlie for which he earned an Emmy nomination acting opposite Patty Duke.

In 1965, he took his first role on in daytime TV on The Edge of Night as Ben Lee, an assistant district attorney in the town of Monticello. The part was a small role. In 1972, he began to make periodic appearances on One Life To Live as Lieutenant Ed Hall, a police officer who eventually wooed and married Carla Gray, portrayed by Ellen Holly. By the mid 1970s, Freeman was a regular on the soap, while continuing to work in theater and primetime television in such shows as Maude and Kojak. He left One Life To Live 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 for several episodes, and was one of the first, if not the first, African-Americans who directed a soap opera. In 1979, he won a Daytime Emmy award as best lead actor, the first African-American actor to be so honored. The same year he received critical acclaim for portraying Malcolm X in the primetime mini-series, Roots: The Next Generation.

Two years later, he made a triumphant return to Broadway starring in an all-black version of Long Day's Journey into Night. At One Life To Live his work became less demanding when his co-star Ellen Holly took a two year hiatus from the series. Freeman still appeared often but had a much less demanding schedule. In 1983, he was nominated once again by his daytime peers; this time for Outstanding Supporting Actor. He left One Life To Live in 1985, but came back for short recurring runs in 1988 and 2000. He has continued to work on the stage, in film and on television, getting Oscar buzz for his supporting role in the 1992 film, Malcolm X. He has made guest appearances on several primetime TV series such as The Cosby Show, Law & Order, and Homicide: Life on the Street. He currently teaches acting as a professor at Howard University, located in Washington DC.