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.
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Known for
Perry Mason
Ken Woodman
Perry Mason
Harry Parker
Perry Mason
Carl Holman
Perry Mason
Joe Marshall
Mannix
Charlie's Angels
Stambler
Knight Rider
Anthony Solan
Ironside
Mission: Impossible
Leon Chandler
Mission: Impossible
Gen. Brenner
The Big Valley
Judge Ben Coulter
The Big Valley
Henry Marvin
The Big Valley
Homer Roberts
The Virginian
Milo Henderson
The Virginian
Jason Ainsworth
The Rifleman
Get Smart
Hogan's Heroes
Maj. Bernsdorf
Petticoat Junction
Detective Horton
Combat!
Sgt. Weber
Vega$
Cannon
The High Chaparral
Telford Burris
Dr. Kildare
Dr. Donald White
Dr. Kildare
Director
The Fall Guy
The Philco Television Playhouse
Al Rago
The Philco Television Playhouse
Ben Casey
Gunsmoke
Al Clovis
Gunsmoke
Chris Thornton
Hang 'em High
Schmidt
The Lucy Show
Miller
The Munsters
Studio One
Chick
Studio One
Malone
Studio One
Mike Jannis
Studio One
Lt. Burke
Barnaby Jones
Det. Capt. Ben Wyatt
Route 66
Peter Gunn
The Outer Limits
Joe Hayden
McCloud
Run for Your Life
Sheriff Parsons
Adventures in Paradise
Michael Dannora
No Way Out
Rocky Miller (uncredited)
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
The Rookies
The Streets of San Francisco
77 Sunset Strip
Tarzan
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Capt. Harvey Ellison
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Cooper
The Partridge Family
Mr. Sharp
The Detectives
The Guns of Will Sonnett
Mr. Novak
Lorimer
The Millionaire
M / Sgt. Matthew Brogan
The Green Hornet
Police Sgt. Bert Clark
The Mod Squad
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
Capt. Akins
Lancer
Police Story
There Was a Crooked Man...
Skinner
The Plot to Kill Stalin
Sokolovsky
Why Must I Die
Adler
Arrest and Trial
Cain's Hundred
Dave Reed
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
Till Death
Dr. Sawyer
Paper Moon
Riverboat
Kester
Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase
Carlo
The Thin Man
Law of the Plainsman
Benson
Detective Story
Det. Dakis
Bourbon Street Beat
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
Lieutenant
Bronk
Paths of Glory
Sgt. Boulanger
The Outsider
The Sixth Sense
Tightrope
Johnny Staccato
Shane
Rufe Ryker
Target: The Corruptors!
Decoy
Lieutenant Rosenberg
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Ben Golden
The Dakotas
Shock Treatment
Frank Josephson
The Gazebo
Lt. Jenkins
Nevada Smith
Quince
Invaders from Mars
Police Chief A.C. Barrows
Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers
Dayton Colonel
Boomerang!
Herron, a Man in Alley Mob
The Loner
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
American Soldier (uncredited)
Norma Rae
Sam Dakin
The Andersonville Trial
Board of Military Judges
The Goddess
Lester Brackman
The Swinger
Police Captain
The Chevy Mystery Show
Lt. Columbo
Wild in the Streets
Max Jacob Flatow, Sr.
Madigan
Chief of Detectives Hap Lynch
The Long, Long Trailer
Foreman
Breakout
Fletcher
Halls of Montezuma
Slattery
Evel Knievel
Doc Kincaid
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Pete Johnson
Invitation to a Gunfighter
Sheriff
Red Mountain
Sgt. Randall
Barracuda
Jack
Lincoln
Edwin Stanton
Fate Is the Hunter
Dillon
711 Ocean Drive
Steve Marshak (uncredited)
Incident at Vichy
Marchand, A Businessman
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Det. Sgt. Paul Klein
Skag
Bishop
Love and the Midnight Auto Supply
Mayor John Randolph
Tangier Incident
Kozad
Take the High Ground!
Sgt. Vince Opperman
The Subterraneans
Bartender
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Dutch (Third New York Henchman)
P.J.
Police Lieutenant
The Company She Keeps
Smitty
Key to the City
Emmy's Husband
The Desperate Hours
Tom Winston
Billy Jack
Mr. Stuart Posner
General Electric Theater
Mitch Green
General Electric Theater
Armstrong
Men of the Fighting Lady
Lt. (jg) Andrew Szymanski
The Atomic City
Emil Jablons
In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan
Dr. Julius Korein
The Cobweb
Abe Irwin
The Strike
Chick
Twilight of Honor
Sheriff Buck Wheeler
Then Came Bronson
Editor Carson
Are You My Mother?
Bert
Death Scream
Det. Ross