Bert Freed


Bert Freed was an American actor. He is perhaps best known as the first actor to portray Detective Frank Columbo.

Life and career

Born and raised in The Bronx, New York, Freed began acting while attending Pennsylvania 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 the musical Carnegie Hall.
Freed portrayed Rufe 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 homicide detective Lt. Columbo in a live 1960 television episode of The Chevy Mystery Show, seven years before Peter Falk played the role.
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 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, Private Slattery in Halls of Montezuma, the Police Chief in Invaders From Mars, Sergeant Boulanger in Paths of Glory, the hangman in Hang 'Em High, Max's father in Wild in the Streets, as Chief of Detectives in Madigan, a homosexual prison guard in There Was a Crooked Man... and Bernard's father in Billy Jack.

Later years and death

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

Selected filmography

  • Boomerang as Herron, Man in Alley Mob
  • Carnegie Hall as Moving Man
  • Twelve O'Clock High as Officer Standing at Bar
  • Key to the City as Emmy's Husband
  • Black Hand as Prosecutor
  • Ma and Pa Kettle Go to Town as Dutch, 3rd New York Henchman
  • Where the Sidewalk Ends as Detective Paul Klein
  • 711 Ocean Drive as Steve Marshak
  • No Way Out as Rocky Miller
  • Halls of Montezuma as Slattery
  • The Company She Keeps as Smitty
  • Detective Story as Detective Dakis
  • Red Mountain as Sergeant Randall
  • Anything Can Happen as Immigration Officer
  • The Atomic City as Emil Jablons
  • The Snows of Kilimanjaro as American Soldier
  • Tangier Incident as Kozad
  • Invaders From Mars as Police Chief A.C. Barrows
  • Take the High Ground! as Sergeant Vince Opperman
  • The Long, Long Trailer as Foreman
  • Men of the Fighting Lady as Lieutenant Andrew Szymanski
  • The Cobweb as Abe Irwin
  • The Desperate Hours as Tom Winston
  • Paths of Glory as Staff Sergeant Boulanger
  • The Goddess as Lester Brackman
  • The Gazebo as Lieutenant Joe Jenkins
  • Steve Canyon as Captain Dunn
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Captain Harvey Ellison
  • Why Must I Die? as Adler
  • The Chevy Mystery Show as Lieutenant Columbo
  • The Subterraneans as Bartender
  • Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Detective Cooper
  • What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? as Ben Golden
  • Twilight of Honor as Sheriff B.L. "Buck" Wheeler
  • Shock Treatment as Frank Josephson
  • Invitation to a Gunfighter as Sheriff
  • Fate Is the Hunter as Dillon
  • Nevada Smith as Quince
  • The Swinger as Police Captain
  • Sail to Glory as Horace Greeley
  • Madigan as Chief of Detectives Hap Lynch
  • Wild in the Streets as Max Jacob Flatow Sr.
  • Hang 'Em High as Schmidt, the Hangman
  • There Was a Crooked Man... as Skinner
  • Billy Jack as Mr. Stuart Posner
  • Evel Knievel as Doc Kincaid
  • Mission: Impossible as Leon Chandler
  • Death Scream as Detective Ross
  • In the Matter of Karen Ann Quinlan as Dr. Julius Korein
  • Love and the Midnight Auto Supply as Mayor John Randolph
  • Till Death as Dr. Sawyer
  • Barracuda as Papa Jack
  • Norma Rae as Sam Dakin