Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was honored with a lifetime achievement award at the 63rd Monte-Carlo Television Festival. The 87-year-old actor received the Crystal Nymph award during the festival’s opening ceremony and expressed his gratitude.
Freeman remarked, “A large pat on the back getting an award like the Crystal Myth. Mist. Nymph. I’ll get it right, I promise you. It’s quite a nice honor. … So I’m thanking, number one, Prince Albert and Monaco.”
Freeman is an executive producer of the festival’s opening series, “The Gray House,” which premiered in Monte Carlo. The show is based on true events from the US Civil War. Speaking about the series, Freeman noted, “I guess maybe there is a sense of responsibility, particularly when we’re telling stories like this. Yes. The responsibility, of course, is to adhere to the truth, find it and use it.”
When asked if he feels a sense of responsibility for real-world progress after portraying the US president in films three times prior to the election of the country’s first Black president, Freeman responded, “No, I don’t think I’ve been responsible. But, if the image is acceptable to the majority, then the reality also is acceptable. I met Barack before he became president. When he was running for, campaigning, and he knew that I had been president, so he just bowed. But you know, I think, what you’re asking, it’s true. There is maybe – maybe I helped some.”
The 5-day Monte-Carlo Television Festival will conclude on June 18.
