I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t be sad to see Morgan Freeman retire. And he’s been real about working in his 80s and how the thought of ending his career has crossed his mind. Thankfully, this thought is just a fleeting one. Now that he’s nearing his 90s, I’m glad to hear he has no intention of slowing down. It turns out there’s a Clint Eastwood motto that we can all thank for motivating Freeman to keep working even as he approaches 90.
Currently, Freeman is promoting the third season of the espionage thriller Lioness, available with a Paramount+ subscription. When the actor spoke with The New York Times to dish about the new season and his confusion over fans’ love of his voice, he also revealed what has kept him working. Giving credit to Eastwood, he said:
I’m like Clint Eastwood on that: Don’t let the old man in. So, keep working. If you can get out of bed and don’t fall down when you do it, then you just count your blessings and keep moving. So, I’ll work as long as I can — as long as somebody says, Do you want to do this part?
Ironically, Eastwood’s son, Kyle, told France Info (via People) that his dad retired from acting at age 95. However, his other son, Scott, said: “We’ll see.” So, it’s unclear if we’ll see Clint on screen again. However, he did turn 90 in 2020, and he notably directed Juror #2, which came out in 2024, and acted in Cry Macho in 2021. Clearly, he can both talk the talk and walk the walk.
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I’m glad to see his advice is keeping Freeman on our screens a while longer. In fact, we can watch him in Lioness as U.S. Secretary of State Edwin Mullins right now, as it’s currently airing on the 2026 TV schedule. I was also excited to see him reprise his role as Thaddeus Bradley in the fun and cheesy third Now You See Me movie.
When it comes to taking these parts, Freeman shares that it’s “very nice if they’re offering you an exciting script.” However, in reality, he reveals it comes down to payment and working out any glitches in the script. He has always been blunt about the consequences of being a famous actor preventing him from being a character actor. Though don’t let this confuse you. Freeman has a cheeky response for why he has no regrets about missed opportunities:
No. I’m pushing 90 now. So, the roles that I wished I had been able to play, Denzel Washington will play.
This hasn’t stopped him from taking on different opportunities, though. Somehow he still doesn’t get why people love the “warm blanket” quality of his voice, but he’s still a go-to narrator for documentaries. He recently narrated Netflix’s brutal docuseries The Dinosaurs. He has also found time for non-acting or film endeavors. Freeman is the founder of a live blues club located in Clarksdale, Mississippi, and he can be heard narrating a blues record which fans can expect out August 7.
So, with all that said, as Morgan Freeman approaches 90, he’s still thriving professionally. And it sounds like we have Clint Eastwood to partially thank for that.