Paul Freeman (actor)

Paul Freeman
Born	(1943-01-18) 18 January 1943 Barnet, Hertfordshire, England
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1967–present
Spouse	Maggie Scott (198?–present)

Paul Freeman (born 18 January 1943) is an English film, stage, and television actor. He is best known for his role as rival archeologist René Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark, as the evil wine baron, Gustav Reibmann on season 4 of Falcon Crest, and as the evil villain, Ivan Ooze in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

Personal life

Freeman was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, England, on 18 January 1943. He is married to Maggie Scott, who was his co-star in the 1981 film The Dogs of War. They have a daughter. Freeman was previously married to actress Judy Matheson.

Career

Freeman began his career in advertising and teaching, and landed small roles in the theatre, appearing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet. He then went on to play starring roles in the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company, and later co-founded his own theatre group, the Joint Stock Theatre Company, in 1974 together with director Max Stafford-Clark.

In 1977, he co-starred in The Strange Case of the End of Civilisation as We Know It with John Cleese.

In 1978, he made his television début in the acclaimed serial Life of Shakespeare (1978). Freeman also acted in the ATV docudrama Death of a Princess, a controversial film about the execution of Misha'al bint Fahd al Saud of Saudi Arabia. In 1980 Freeman began his feature film career when he appeared in The Long Good Friday alongside Bob Hoskins and The Dogs of War (1981). In 1981, he starred in the TV show Winston Churchill: The Wilderness Years.

In the same year, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas chose Freeman to play French archaeologist René Belloq, the rakish arch rival to Dr. Indiana Jones in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The film was a springboard for Freeman in Hollywood and he continued to play the villain in Hollywood and his native Britain, using his uncanny talent for foreign accents. Armed with another accent, this time German, he played the conniving wine baron Gustav Riebmann in the fourth season of Falcon Crest, airing in 1984/85.

In 1988, he played Professor Moriarty in Without a Clue, starring Michael Caine as Sherlock Holmes and Ben Kingsley as Watson, and in 1995 was Ivan Ooze in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie.

Freeman guest-starred in hit shows such as Monarch of the Glen, ER, Falcon Crest and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. He also played in several mini-series, including Murderers Among Us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story (1989) and The Final Cut (1995). In 2004, Freeman played Angus, Bobby Jones' caddie, in Bobby Jones: A Stroke of Genius. During 2006 and 2007, he starred in the BBC legal drama New Street Law as the main protagonist, alongside John Hannah. Also in 2007, he played Rev. Philip Shooter of Sandford in Hot Fuzz, alongside Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. He is also featured in several 2007–09 Travelers Insurance television commercials.

Among his television work, Freeman appeared in an episode of Midsomer Murders entitled "Down Among the Dead Men". He also appeared in the television crime drama Waking The Dead, in the episode "Straw Dog", and played Adam Kingsley in the BBC TV adaptation of Minette Walters' The Dark Room.

He recently received acclaim as George Aaranow in the 2008 London revival of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross.

In 2012 he played Thomas Erpingham in the BBC adaption of William Shakespeare's Henry V from The Hollow Crown series.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes/Awards
1976	Feelings	Paul Martin
1980	The Long Good Friday	Colin
1980	The Dogs of War	Derek
1981	Raiders of the Lost Ark	Dr. René Belloq	Nominated – Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor
1982	An Unsuitable Job for a Woman	James Calendar
1982	Who Dares Wins	Sir Richard
1982	The Sender	Dr. Joseph Denman
1983	Si elle dit oui... je ne dis pas non	Nick
1984	Flight to Berlin	Nicholas
1986	Shanghai Surprise	Walter Faraday
1988	Prisoner of Rio	Ronald Biggs
1988	A World Apart	Kruger
1988	Without a Clue	Professor James Moriarty
1992	Just Like A Woman	Miles Millichamp
1993	Piccolo Grande Amore	Otto Von Dix
1994	The Sum Of Us	George
1994	Lie Down With Lions	Dubois
1995	Horseman On The Roof	Laurent de Theus
1995	Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie	Ivan Ooze
1996	Squillo	Marco
1997	Double Team	Goldsmythe
1997	Bribery And Corruption	Julius Sorenson
1999	The Devil's Arithmetic	Rabbi
2001	Morlang	Julius Morlang	Cairo International Film Festival Award for Best Actor
2002	And Now...Ladies and Gentlemen	English Customer
2002	Haker	President of MIT
2003	George and the Dragon	Sir Robert
2003	Mrs Caldicott's Cabbage War	Jenkins
2004	When I'm 64	Ray
2006	The Feast of the Goat	Agustin
2007	Hot Fuzz	Rev. Philip Shooter
2009	The Courageous Heart of Irena Sendler	Monsignor Godlewski
2010	Centurion	Governor Agricola
2013	Getaway	The Man

Television

• 1967 – Champion House – Elwyn
• 1992 – The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "British East Africa, September 1909" – Frederick Selous
• 1995 – The Final Cut – Tom Makepeace
• 1998–2002 – ER – Dr. Charles Corday – 3 episodes
• 2013 – The Bible – Samuel – 2 episodes

External links

• Paul Freeman at IMDb