Bert Freed

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

Born: The Bronx, New York USA, 1919-11-03

Died: 1994-08-02

Film

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1947	Boomerang!	Herron, a Man in Alley Mob	69
2	1950	Key to the City	Emmy's Husband	61
3	1950	Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town	Dutch (Third New York Henchman)	61
4	1950	711 Ocean Drive	Steve Marshak (uncredited)	63
5	1950	Where the Sidewalk Ends	Det. Sgt. Paul Klein	71
6	1950	No Way Out	Rocky Miller - Beaver Canal Resident (uncredited)	69
7	1951	Halls of Montezuma	Slattery	59
8	1951	The Company She Keeps	Smitty (plainclothesman)	59
9	1951	Detective Story	Det. Dakis	70
10	1951	Red Mountain	Sgt. Randall	62
11	1952	The Atomic City	Emil Jablons	52
12	1952	The Snows of Kilimanjaro	American Soldier (uncredited)	59
13	1953	Tangier Incident	Kozad	50
14	1953	Invaders from Mars	Police Chief A.C. Barrows	59
15	1953	Take the High Ground!	Sgt. Vince Opperman	57
16	1954	The Long, Long Trailer	Foreman	68
17	1954	Men of the Fighting Lady	Lt. (jg) Andrew Szymanski	62
18	1954	The Strike	Chick	75
19	1955	The Cobweb	Abe Irwin	58
20	1955	The Desperate Hours	Tom Winston	70
21	1956	Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers	Dayton Colonel	58
22	1957	Paths of Glory	Sgt. Boulanger	83
23	1958	The Goddess	Lester Brackman	59
24	1958	The Plot to Kill Stalin	Sokolovsky	0
25	1960	The Gazebo	Lt. Jenkins	69
26	1960	Why Must I Die	Adler	50
27	1960	The Subterraneans	Bartender	48
28	1962	What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?	Ben Golden	79
29	1963	Twilight of Honor	Sheriff Buck Wheeler	67
30	1964	Shock Treatment	Frank Josephson	67
31	1964	Invitation to a Gunfighter	Sheriff	59
32	1964	Fate Is the Hunter	Dillon	64
33	1966	Nevada Smith	Quince	68
34	1966	The Swinger	Police Captain	54
35	1968	P.J.	Police Lieutenant	52
36	1968	Madigan	Chief of Detectives Hap Lynch	61
37	1968	Hang 'em High	Schmidt	68
38	1968	Wild in the Streets	Max Jacob Flatow Sr.	59
39	1969	Then Came Bronson	Editor Carson	52
40	1970	The Andersonville Trial	Board of Military Judges	67
41	1970	There Was a Crooked Man...	Skinner	68
42	1970	Breakout	Fletcher	0
43	1971	Billy Jack	Mr. Stuart Posner	59
44	1971	Evel Knievel	Doc Kincaid	49
45	1973	Incident at Vichy	Marchand, A Businessman	0
46	1975	Death Scream	Det. Ross	66
47	1977	Love and the Midnight Auto Supply	Mayor John Randolph	35
48	1977	In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan	Dr. Julius Korein	82
49	1978	Till Death	Dr. Sawyer	63
50	1978	Barracuda	Jack	41
51	1979	Norma Rae	Sam Dakin	72
52	1980	Skag	Bishop	0
53	1981	Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase	Carlo	0
54	1986	Are You My Mother?	Bert	0

Television

No.	Year	Title	Role	Vote Average
1	1948	The Philco Television Playhouse	Al Rago	60
2	1948	The Philco Television Playhouse		60
3	1948	Studio One	Chick	47
4	1948	Studio One	Malone	47
5	1948	Studio One	Mike Jannis	47
6	1948	Studio One	Lt. Burke	47
7	1951	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Pete Johnson	87
8	1953	General Electric Theater	Mitch Green	60
9	1953	General Electric Theater	Armstrong	60
10	1955	The Millionaire	M / Sgt. Matthew Brogan	50
11	1955	Gunsmoke	Al Clovis	66
12	1955	Gunsmoke	Chris Thornton	66
13	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Capt. Harvey Ellison	78
14	1955	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Cooper	78
15	1957	The Thin Man		76
16	1957	Perry Mason	Ken Woodman	77
17	1957	Perry Mason	Harry Parker	77
18	1957	Perry Mason	Carl Holman	77
19	1957	Perry Mason	Joe Marshall	77
20	1957	Decoy	Lieutenant Rosenberg	62
21	1958	Peter Gunn		65
22	1958	The Rifleman		71
23	1958	Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse		53
24	1958	77 Sunset Strip		67
25	1959	Tightrope		55
26	1959	Johnny Staccato		56
27	1959	Riverboat	Kester	62
28	1959	The DuPont Show with June Allyson	Lieutenant	63
29	1959	The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis		59
30	1959	Law of the Plainsman	Benson	60
31	1959	Bourbon Street Beat		50
32	1959	Adventures in Paradise	Michael Dannora	57
33	1959	The Detectives		56
34	1960	The Chevy Mystery Show	Lt. Columbo	60
35	1960	Route 66		64
36	1961	Cain's Hundred	Dave Reed	47
37	1961	Dr. Kildare	Dr. Donald White	54
38	1961	Dr. Kildare	Director	54
39	1961	Target: The Corruptors!		35
40	1961	Ben Casey		57
41	1962	The Virginian	Milo Henderson	64
42	1962	The Virginian	Jason Ainsworth	64
43	1962	The Lucy Show	Miller	71
44	1962	Combat!	Sgt. Weber	76
45	1963	The Dakotas		57
46	1963	Arrest and Trial		70
47	1963	The Outer Limits	Joe Hayden	78
48	1963	Petticoat Junction	Detective Horton	59
49	1963	Mr. Novak	Lorimer	65
50	1963	Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre		55
51	1964	The Munsters		80
52	1965	Run for Your Life	Sheriff Parsons	72
53	1965	The Big Valley	Judge Ben Coulter	61
54	1965	The Big Valley	Henry Marvin	61
55	1965	The Big Valley	Homer Roberts	61
56	1965	Hogan's Heroes	Maj. Bernsdorf	75
57	1965	Get Smart		79
58	1965	The Loner		57
59	1966	Tarzan		67
60	1966	The Green Hornet	Police Sgt. Bert Clark	72
61	1966	Shane	Rufe Ryker	60
62	1967	Ironside		69
63	1967	The Guns of Will Sonnett		63
64	1967	The High Chaparral	Telford Burris	65
65	1967	Mannix		67
66	1968	Mission: Impossible	Leon Chandler	76
67	1968	Mission: Impossible	Gen. Brenner	76
68	1968	The Outsider		52
69	1968	The Mod Squad		65
70	1968	Lancer		47
71	1970	McCloud		71
72	1971	Cannon		65
73	1972	The Sixth Sense		63
74	1972	The Rookies		69
75	1972	The Streets of San Francisco		70
76	1973	Barnaby Jones	Det. Capt. Ben Wyatt	70
77	1973	Police Story		71
78	1974	Lincoln	Edwin Stanton	80
79	1974	Paper Moon		63
80	1974	Kolchak: The Night Stalker	Capt. Akins	76
81	1975	Bronk		62
82	1976	Charlie's Angels	Stambler	66
83	1978	Vega$		70
84	1981	The Fall Guy		75
85	1982	Knight Rider	Anthony Solan	75