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Bert Freed
Bert Freed
	Bert Freed portraying Columbo in The Chevy Mystery Show (1960)
Born	November 3, 1919; The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died	August 2, 1994 (aged 74); Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada
Years active	1942-1986
Spouse	Nancy Lee (1956–1994) (his death) (2 children)
Children	Jennifer, Carl, Andrew Sutton (stepson)

Bert Freed (November 3, 1919 – August 2, 1994) was an American character actor, voice-over actor, and the first actor to portray Detective Columbo.

Life and career

Born and raised in The Bronx, New York, Freed began acting while attending Pennsylvania State University,^[1] 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 the musical Carnegie Hall (1947).

Freed portrayed Rufe Ryker in the television series Shane,^[2] 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. ^{[citation needed]}

Freed played homicide detective Lt. Columbo in a live 1960 television episode of The Chevy Mystery Show seven years before Peter Falk played the role.^[3]

Freed made four guest appearances on Perry Mason, including the role of Ken Woodman in the 1960 episode, "The Case of the Treacherous Toupee"; murder victim Joe Marshall in the 1964 episode, "The Case of the Ruinous Road"; and Carl Holman, whose wife is the murderer in the 1962 episode "The Case of the Poison Pen-Pal".

He appeared (sometimes more than once) in many other television shows such as The Rifleman, Laramie, Bonanza, The High Chaparral, 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, Steve Canyon, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Dr. Kildare, Ben Casey, Combat!, Petticoat Junction, The Outer Limits, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66, Ironside, The Green Hornet, The Munsters, The Untouchables, and many others. He directed one episode of T.H.E. Cat.

Freed appeared as a racist club owner in No Way Out (1950), Private Slattery in Halls of Montezuma (1951), the Police Chief in Invaders From Mars (1953), Sergeant 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". ^{[citation needed]}

Later years and death

He retired from acting in 1986, and died of a heart attack in Sechelt, British Columbia, in 1994 while on a fishing trip with his son.

Selected filmography

Boomerang (1947) as Herron, Man in Alley Mob (uncredited)
Carnegie Hall (1947) as Moving Man (uncredited)
Twelve O'Clock High (1949) as Officer Standing at Bar (uncredited)
Key to the City (1950) as Emmy's Husband
Black Hand (1950) as Prosecutor
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town (1950) as Dutch, 3rd New York Henchman
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) as Detective Paul Klein
711 Ocean Drive (1950) as Steve Marshak (uncredited)
No Way Out (1950) as Rocky Miller (uncredited)
Halls of Montezuma (1951) as Slattery
The Company She Keeps (1951) as Smitty
Detective Story (1951) as Detective Dakis
Red Mountain (1951) as Sergeant Randall
Anything Can Happen (1952) as Immigration Officer (uncredited)
The Atomic City (1952) as Emil Jablons
The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) as American Soldier (uncredited)
Tangier Incident (1953) as Kozad
Invaders From Mars (1953) as Police Chief A.C. Barrows (uncredited)
Take the High Ground! (1953) as Sergeant Vince Opperman
The Long, Long Trailer (1953) as Foreman
Men of the Fighting Lady (1954) as Lieutenant (junior grade) Andrew Szymanski
The Cobweb (1955) as Abe Irwin
The Desperate Hours (1955) as Tom Winston
Paths of Glory (1957) as Staff Sergeant Boulanger
The Goddess (1958) as Lester Brackman
The Gazebo (1959) as Lieutenant Joe Jenkins
Steve Canyon (1959) as Captain Dunn
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1960) (Season 5 Episode 19: "Not the Running Type") as Captain Harvey Ellison
Why Must I Die? (1960) as Adler
The Chevy Mystery Show (1960) (Episode: "Enough Rope") as Lieutenant Columbo
The Subterraneans (1960) as Bartender
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1961) (Season 6 Episode 21: "The Kiss-Off") as Detective Cooper
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) as Ben Golden
Twilight of Honor (1963) as Sheriff B.L. "Buck" Wheeler
Shock Treatment (1964) as Frank Josephson
Invitation to a Gunfighter (1964) as Sheriff
Fate Is the Hunter (1964) as Dillon
Nevada Smith (1966) as Quince
The Swinger (1966) as Police Captain
Sail to Glory (1967) as Horace Greeley
Madigan (1968) as Chief of Detectives Hap Lynch
Wild in the Streets (1968) as Max Jacob Flatow Sr.
Hang 'Em High (1968) as Schmidt, the Hangman
There Was a Crooked Man... (1970) as Skinner
Billy Jack (1971) as Mr. Stuart Posner
Evel Knievel (1971) as Doc Kincaid
Mission: Impossible (1972) (Episode: "Committed") as Leon Chandler
Death Scream (1975) as Detective Ross
In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan (1977) as Dr. Julius Korein
Love and the Midnight Auto Supply (1977) as Mayor John Randolph
Till Death (1978) as Dr. Sawyer
Barracuda (1978) as Papa Jack
Norma Rae (1979) as Sam Dakin

References

^ "Veteran actor Bert Freed dead at 74". The Daily Gazette. August 6, 1994. Retrieved 6 July 2016.
^ Crosby, Joan (November 6, 1966). "Series Gives 'Hey, You' Actor a Name". The Corpus Christi Caller-Times. Texas, Corpus Christi. Newspaper Enterprise Association. p. 73. Retrieved July 5, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
^ Jones, Steve. "Columbo: The Complete Series available in 34-disc set". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2024-04-14.