Al Freeman Jr.

Albert Cornelius Freeman, Jr. (March 21, 1934 – August 9, 2012) was an American actor and director.

Career
Freeman has made appearances in many movies, such as My Sweet Charlie, Finian's Rainbow, and Malcolm X, and television series such as The Cosby Show, Law & Order, Homicide: Life on the Street, Hot L. Baltimore, and The Edge of Night. He is mostly recognized for his portrayal of Police Captain Ed Hall on the ABC soap opera, One Life to Live, a role he played from 1972 through 1987, with recurring roles in 1988 and 2000. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for that role in 1979, the first actor from the show as well as the first African American actor to earn the award. He was also a director of One Life to Live, and was one of the first African Americans to direct a soap opera.

After leaving One Life to Live, Freeman appeared in the motion picture Down in the Delta. His Broadway theatre credits include Look to the Lilies, Blues for Mister Charlie, and Medea. His role as Elijah Muhammad in the movie based on Malcolm X Malcolm X earned him the 1995 NAACP Image Award for NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture|Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture. Coincidently, he had previously played Malcolm X in the 1979 miniseries, Roots: The Next Generations.

Later career
Freeman taught acting at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Freeman, Jr. is not related to actor Morgan Freeman. He died on August 9, 2012 in Washington, D.C., he was 78 years old. A memorial service was held on September 10, 2012.

Some of his movies

 * Dutchman (1967)
 * Finian's Rainbow (1968)
 * My Sweet Charlie (1970)
 * Malcolm X (1992)
 * Down in the Delta (1998)