Bert Freed
Acting • Born 1919-11-03 – Died 1994-08-02
Biography
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.
Filmography
140 credits
Paths of Glory
Movie • 1957
Sgt. Boulanger
The Goddess
Movie • 1958
Lester Brackman
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
Movie • 1962
Ben Golden
Billy Jack
Movie • 1971
Mr. Stuart Posner
Detective Story
Movie • 1951
Det. Dakis
Madigan
Movie • 1968
Chief of Detectives Hap Lynch
Nevada Smith
Movie • 1966
Quince
The Company She Keeps
Movie • 1951
Smitty
There Was a Crooked Man...
Movie • 1970
Skinner
Barracuda
Movie • 1978
Jack
Wild in the Streets
Movie • 1968
Max Jacob Flatow, Sr.
Halls of Montezuma
Movie • 1951
Slattery
Where the Sidewalk Ends
Movie • 1950
Det. Sgt. Paul Klein
The Desperate Hours
Movie • 1955
Tom Winston
Men of the Fighting Lady
Movie • 1954
Lt. (jg) Andrew Szymanski
The Cobweb
Movie • 1955
Abe Irwin
The Atomic City
Movie • 1952
Emil Jablons
Why Must I Die
Movie • 1960
Adler
Fate Is the Hunter
Movie • 1964
Dillon
P.J.
Movie • 1968
Police Lieutenant
Red Mountain
Movie • 1951
Sgt. Randall
Evel Knievel
Movie • 1971
Doc Kincaid
Skag
Movie • 1980
Bishop
Norma Rae
Movie • 1979
Sam Dakin
Then Came Bronson
Movie • 1969
Editor Carson
The Subterraneans
Movie • 1960
Bartender
Key to the City
Movie • 1950
Emmy's Husband
The Gazebo
Movie • 1960
Lt. Jenkins
Till Death
Movie • 1978
Dr. Sawyer
Invitation to a Gunfighter
Movie • 1964
Sheriff
The Andersonville Trial
Movie • 1970
Board of Military Judges
The Plot to Kill Stalin
Movie • 1958
Sokolovsky
Invaders from Mars
Movie • 1953
Police Chief A.C. Barrows
In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan
Movie • 1977
Dr. Julius Korein
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
Movie • 1952
American Soldier (uncredited)
Boomerang!
Movie • 1947
Herron, a Man in Alley Mob
No Way Out
Movie • 1950
Rocky Miller (uncredited)
Are You My Mother?
Movie • 1986
Bert
Breakout
Movie • 1970
Fletcher
Hang 'em High
Movie • 1968
Schmidt
Love and the Midnight Auto Supply
Movie • 1977
Mayor John Randolph
711 Ocean Drive
Movie • 1950
Steve Marshak (uncredited)
The Strike
Movie • 1954
Chick
Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town
Movie • 1950
Dutch (Third New York Henchman)
Charlie and the Great Balloon Chase
Movie • 1981
Carlo
Tangier Incident
Movie • 1953
Kozad
Death Scream
Movie • 1975
Det. Ross
Incident at Vichy
Movie • 1973
Marchand, A Businessman
Unidentified Flying Objects: The True Story of Flying Saucers
Movie • 1956
Dayton Colonel
Shock Treatment
Movie • 1964
Frank Josephson
Take the High Ground!
Movie • 1953
Sgt. Vince Opperman
The Long, Long Trailer
Movie • 1954
Foreman
Twilight of Honor
Movie • 1963
Sheriff Buck Wheeler
The Swinger
Movie • 1966
Police Captain
77 Sunset Strip
TV • 1958
Cain's Hundred
TV • 1961
Dave Reed
The Rookies
TV • 1972
Bourbon Street Beat
TV • 1959
The Munsters
TV • 1964
Knight Rider
TV • 1982
Anthony Solan
Route 66
TV • 1960
The Streets of San Francisco
TV • 1972
Petticoat Junction
TV • 1963
Detective Horton
Charlie's Angels
TV • 1976
Stambler
Mannix
TV • 1967
The Mod Squad
TV • 1968
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Al Clovis
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Ken Woodman
Arrest and Trial
TV • 1963
Studio One
TV • 1948
Chick
Combat!
TV • 1962
Sgt. Weber
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Mitch Green
Mission: Impossible
TV • 1966
Leon Chandler
Cannon
TV • 1971
Johnny Staccato
TV • 1959
Get Smart
TV • 1965
Hallmark Hall of Fame
TV • 1951
Pete Johnson
Ironside
TV • 1967
The Fall Guy
TV • 1981
Kolchak: The Night Stalker
TV • 1974
Capt. Akins
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Capt. Harvey Ellison
Target: The Corruptors!
TV • 1961
Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse
TV • 1958
Vega$
TV • 1978
Run for Your Life
TV • 1965
Sheriff Parsons
Police Story
TV • 1973
The High Chaparral
TV • 1967
Telford Burris
The Millionaire
TV • 1955
M / Sgt. Matthew Brogan
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Milo Henderson
Lancer
TV • 1968
Peter Gunn
TV • 1958
McCloud
TV • 1970
The Thin Man
TV • 1957
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
TV • 1963
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Judge Ben Coulter
Adventures in Paradise
TV • 1959
Michael Dannora
The Loner
TV • 1965
The Sixth Sense
TV • 1972
Tarzan
TV • 1966
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Al Rago
Decoy
TV • 1957
Lieutenant Rosenberg
The Rifleman
TV • 1958
The Dakotas
TV • 1963
Ben Casey
TV • 1961
The Guns of Will Sonnett
TV • 1967
Mr. Novak
TV • 1963
Lorimer
Riverboat
TV • 1959
Kester
Law of the Plainsman
TV • 1959
Benson
The Detectives
TV • 1959
Tightrope
TV • 1959
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Dr. Donald White
Shane
TV • 1966
Rufe Ryker
The DuPont Show with June Allyson
TV • 1959
Lieutenant
Paper Moon
TV • 1974
The Outsider
TV • 1968
The Green Hornet
TV • 1966
Police Sgt. Bert Clark
Bronk
TV • 1975
The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis
TV • 1959
Hogan's Heroes
TV • 1965
Maj. Bernsdorf
Dr. Kildare
TV • 1961
Director
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Henry Marvin
The Big Valley
TV • 1965
Homer Roberts
The Virginian
TV • 1962
Jason Ainsworth
Gunsmoke
TV • 1955
Chris Thornton
The Outer Limits
TV • 1963
Joe Hayden
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Armstrong
The Lucy Show
TV • 1962
Miller
The Chevy Mystery Show
TV • 1960
Lt. Columbo
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Harry Parker
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Carl Holman
Perry Mason
TV • 1957
Joe Marshall
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
TV • 1955
Cooper
Studio One
TV • 1948
Malone
Studio One
TV • 1948
Mike Jannis
Studio One
TV • 1948
Lt. Burke
The Philco Television Playhouse
TV • 1948
Mission: Impossible
TV • 1966
Gen. Brenner
Barnaby Jones
TV • 1973
Det. Capt. Ben Wyatt
Lincoln
TV • 1974
Edwin Stanton
The Partridge Family
TV • 1970
Mr. Sharp