Paul Freeman is an English actor. He is known for his role as rival
archaeologist René Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark, as the evil wine baron
Gustav Reibmann on season 4 of Falcon Crest, Reverend Shooter in Hot Fuzz and
as the 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. 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. 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 and The Final Cut. 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=
= Television= 1967 – Champion House – Elwyn
1987 – Yesterday's Dreams - Martin Daniels
1992 – The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles – "British East Africa,
September 1909" – Frederick Selous 1995 – The Final Cut - 4 Episodes – Tom
Makepeace 1998–2002 – ER – Dr. Charles Corday – 3
episodes 2002 – Monarch of the Glen - Andrew
2006 – Midsomer Murders - 1 Episode: "Down Among The Dead Men" - Sir John
Waverly 2008 – Agatha Christie's Poirot - 1
Episode: "Appointment With Death" - Col. Carbury
2013 – The Bible – Samuel – 2 episodes References
External links Paul Freeman at the Internet Movie
Database