Bert Freed
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1919-11-03
Day of Death
1994-08-02 (74 years old)
Place of Birth
The Bronx, New York USA
Bert Freed
Biography
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.
Known For
Acting
(1986)
Are You My Mother?
as Bert
(1981)
(1980)
Skag
as Bishop
(1979)
Norma Rae
as Sam Dakin
(1978)
Barracuda
as Jack
(1978)
Till Death
as Dr. Sawyer
(1977)
Love and the Midnight Auto Supply
as Mayor John Randolph
(1977)
In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan
as Dr. Julius Korein
(1975)
Death Scream
as Det. Ross
(1973)
Incident at Vichy
as Marchand, A Businessman
(1971)
Billy Jack
as Mr. Stuart Posner
(1971)
Evel Knievel
as Doc Kincaid
(1970)
There Was a Crooked Man...
as Skinner
(1970)
The Andersonville Trial
as Board of Military Judges
(1970)
Breakout
as Fletcher
(1969)
Then Came Bronson
as Editor Carson
(1968)
Hang 'em High
as Schmidt
(1968)
Madigan
as Chief of Detectives Hap Lynch
(1968)
P.J.
as Police Lieutenant
(1968)
Wild in the Streets
as Max Jacob Flatow Sr.
(1966)
Nevada Smith
as Quince
(1966)
The Swinger
as Police Captain
(1964)
Invitation to a Gunfighter
as Sheriff
(1964)
Fate Is the Hunter
as Dillon
(1964)
Shock Treatment
as Frank Josephson
(1963)
Twilight of Honor
as Sheriff Buck Wheeler
(1962)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
as Ben Golden
(1960)
The Gazebo
as Lt. Jenkins
(1960)
The Subterraneans
as Bartender
(1960)
Why Must I Die
as Adler
(1958)
The Goddess
as Lester Brackman
(1958)
The Plot to Kill Stalin
as Sokolovsky
(1957)
Paths of Glory
as Sgt. Boulanger
(1956)
Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers
as Dayton Colonel
(1955)
The Desperate Hours
as Tom Winston
(1955)
The Cobweb
as Abe Irwin
(1954)
The Long, Long Trailer
as Foreman
(1954)
Men of the Fighting Lady
as Lt. (jg) Andrew Szymanski
(1954)
The Strike
as Chick
(1953)
Invaders from Mars
as Police Chief A.C. Barrows
(1953)
Take the High Ground!
as Sgt. Vince Opperman
(1953)
Tangier Incident
as Kozad
(1952)
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
as American Soldier (uncredited)
(1952)
The Atomic City
as Emil Jablons
(1951)
Detective Story
as Det. Dakis
(1951)
Red Mountain
as Sgt. Randall
(1951)
The Company She Keeps
as Smitty (plainclothesman)
(1951)
Halls of Montezuma
as Slattery
(1950)
No Way Out
as Rocky Miller (uncredited)
(1950)
Where the Sidewalk Ends
as Det. Sgt. Paul Klein
(1950)
Key to the City
as Emmy's Husband
(1950)
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
as Dutch (Third New York Henchman)
(1950)
711 Ocean Drive
as Steve Marshak (uncredited)
(1947)
Boomerang!
as Herron, a Man in Alley Mob