Morgan Freeman Compared This Role to “Prostitution”

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Morgan Freeman has said that his time on the children’s show The Electric Company felt like a frustrating grind, especially early in his career. Though now famous for his calm and thoughtful performances, the acclaimed actor has admitted he didn’t enjoy his work on the series.

Morgan Freeman began working on the children’s television show The Electric Company in 1971 and stayed with the program for six seasons, appearing in almost 800 episodes. He was known for playing many different roles, including the studious Easy Reader, the unusual Vincent the Vegetable Vampire, and a radio DJ called Mel Mounds.

Freeman initially thought he’d only work on the project for two years, as he explained to Alex Simon. However, it just became routine, he said. He continued to take the work despite his growing frustration with himself for not quitting, admitting he did it for the reliable income. ‘I kept doing that year after year, and I became increasingly upset with myself for lacking the courage to leave,’ he shared.

The show, a long-time favorite for kids’ education, was created by what is now called Sesame Workshop. It was designed to help young students get better at reading and grammar and aired from 1971 to 1977, with repeats continuing through 1985 and again on the Noggin channel from 1999 to 2003. The actor Freeman worried that being on the show for so many years might have limited his career options.

He joked that if things had gone differently, he would have loved to have been a children’s television host like Fred Rogers or Captain Kangaroo. He pointed out that he knew people who had worked on Sesame Street for almost 30 years.

Although Morgan Freeman appreciated the consistent work on the show, he viewed it as a temporary opportunity. It allowed him to avoid being known only as a children’s television actor and helped launch a successful career that established him as a highly respected figure in Hollywood. Now, he realizes that experience taught him the importance of knowing when it’s time to pursue new challenges.

He recalled the disappointment of losing his job when the show was cancelled in 1976. However, that cancellation ultimately allowed him to take on more interesting and diverse roles, shaping him into the actor known today for playing strong, authoritative characters – a significant change from the tougher, grittier roles he started with.

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2026-01-16 20:14