My Five Minutes with Morgan Freeeman
As the producer of a high profile morning radio show I always went after big stars to be guests on the program. One A-list star I always pursued was Morgan Freeman.
Every week I made it a habit to see what films were coming out in hopes of booking stars on the show to promote their latest film. Sometime in the early 2000’s a new Morgan Freeman film was due to hit the theaters so I contacted one of his people. We got lucky because my request landed on the desk of Lori McCreary, Morgan’s business partner and CEO at Revelation Entertainment. Lori was a big fan of the show so she arranged for Morgan to come into the studio which in turn had Mark and Brian pumped because they were big fans of Morgan’s.
On the morning of interview, Officer Quarterman called to inform me that Mister Freeman had arrived. I brought him down to the Green Room, offered him coffee and asked him the one little question I hadn’t discussed with Lori – how much time did he have to spend with Mark and Brian. His distinctive voice gave me my answer.
“Five minutes seems about right.”
Mark and Brian would not be happy with that so I asked him if ten minutes might be possible.
“We’ll see.”
Among their many talents, Mark and Brian knew how to make guests feel comfortable. An hour later the interview ended and Morgan left with a big smile, very happy with the way it turned out.
That was the beginning of a long relationship with a great actor and a very funny man. Over the following ten years Morgan made many appearances on the show and in 2012 joined us at the Nokia Theater to read The Night Before Christmas at our annual Christmas Show.
About a week before the Christmas Show I brought a copy of the story down to the Revelation Entertainment offices in Santa Monica. I was shown into the conference where both Morgan and Lori were waiting. I handed over the book and thanked him for agreeing to read the story at the live show.
“There’s a live audience?”
Before I had a chance to answer, Lori chimed in and said “Morgan, it’ll be fun.”
As look back at my first encounter in the Green Room and then his response to reading in front of a live audience, it’s apparent he was amusing himself by playing with my producer’s mindset.
I’ll always be grateful to Lori McCreary for making me look good and having Morgan Freeman become a real friend to The Mark and Brian Show.