1919-11-03 ( 105 years old ) in The Bronx, New York USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Bert Freed (November 3, 1919 — August 2, 1994) was a prolific American character actor, voice over actor, and the first actor to portray "Detective Columbo" on television.
Born and raised in The Bronx, New York, Freed began acting while attending Penn State University, and made his Broadway debut in 1942. Following World War II Army service in the European Theatre, he appeared in the Broadway musical The Day Before Spring in 1945 and dozens of television shows between 1947 and 1985. His film debut occurred, oddly enough, in a musical Carnegie Hall (1947). A prominent role was as the villainous Ryker in the television series Shane, in which Freed added a unique touch of realism by beginning the show clean-shaven and growing a beard from one week to the next, never shaving again through the season.
Freed played Columbo in a live 1960 episode of the "Chevy Mystery Theatre" seven years before Peter Falk played the role. Thomas Mitchell also played the part on stage prior to Falk's version, which is probably where many of the eccentric Columbo traits originated; only a few were visible in Freed's straightforward interpretation, although the character as played by Freed is recognizably Columbo.
He appeared (sometimes more than once) in television shows such as The Rifleman, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Big Valley,The Virginian, Mannix, Barnaby Jones, Charlie's Angels, Then Came Bronson, Run For Your Life, Get Smart, The Lucy Show, Hogan's Heroes, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, Perry Mason, Combat!, Petticoat Junction, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66, Ironside, The Green Hornet, The Munsters, and many, many more. He directed one episode of T.H.E. Cat.
Freed appeared as a racist club owner in No Way Out (1950), a gangster in Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950), a Marine private in Halls of Montezuma (1951 film), an Army sergeant in Take the High Ground! (1953), the Police Chief in Invaders From Mars (1953), Sgt. Boulanger in Paths of Glory (1957), the hangman in Hang 'Em High (1968), Max's father in Wild in the Streets (1968), as Chief of Detectives in Madigan (1968), a homosexual prison guard in There Was a Crooked Man... (1970) and Bernard's father in Billy Jack (1971) in which he got "whumped" on the side of the face by Billy Jack's right foot "just for the hell of it."
He retired from acting in 1986, and died of a heart attack in Canada in 1994 while on a fishing trip with his son.
Description above from the Wikipedia article Bert Freed, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Movies
Are You My Mother?
1986-03-05
Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase
1981-07-12
Skag
1980-01-06
Norma Rae
1979-03-02
Barracuda
1978-10-16
Till Death
1978-02-01
In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan
1977-09-26
Love and the Midnight Auto Supply
1977-09-24
Death Scream
1975-09-26
Incident at Vichy
1973-12-06
Evel Knievel
1971-09-10
Billy Jack
1971-05-01
Breakout
1970-12-08
There Was a Crooked Man...
1970-09-18
The Andersonville Trial
1970-05-17
Then Came Bronson
1969-03-24
Wild in the Streets
1968-05-29
Hang 'em High
1968-04-12
Madigan
1968-03-29
P.J.
1968-03-27
The Swinger
1966-11-13
Nevada Smith
1966-06-10
Fate Is the Hunter
1964-11-08
Invitation to a Gunfighter
1964-10-14
Shock Treatment
1964-07-22
Twilight of Honor
1963-11-13
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
1962-10-31
The Subterraneans
1960-06-23
Why Must I Die
1960-06-01
The Gazebo
1960-01-15
The Plot to Kill Stalin
1958-09-25
The Goddess
1958-06-24
Paths of Glory
1957-10-25
The Desperate Hours
1955-10-05
The Cobweb
1955-06-07
The Strike
1954-06-07
Men of the Fighting Lady
1954-05-07
The Long, Long Trailer
1954-02-19
Take the High Ground!
1953-10-30
Invaders from Mars
1953-04-22
Tangier Incident
1953-02-01
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
1952-10-08
The Atomic City
1952-05-01
Red Mountain
1951-11-01
Detective Story
1951-10-24
The Company She Keeps
1951-01-27
Halls of Montezuma
1951-01-04
No Way Out
1950-08-16
Where the Sidewalk Ends
1950-07-07
711 Ocean Drive
1950-07-01
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
1950-04-01
Key to the City
1950-02-02
Boomerang!
1947-02-28
Powered by Powerxsoft Ltd using the TMDB API