Paul Freeman (actor)
English actor
Paul Freeman (born 18 January 1943) is an English actor who has appeared in theatre, television and film. Internationally, he is known for playing the rival archaeologist René Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), evil wine baron Gustav Riebmann on season 4 of the soap opera Falcon Crest (1984–85), and supervillain Ivan Ooze in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995). His other credits include Morlang (2001), When I'm 64 (2004), Hot Fuzz (2007) and Hard Boiled Sweets (2012). In the UK, he had a leading role in the television series Yesterday's Dreams (1987) as Martin Daniels.
Referring to Freeman's extensive theatre work, in 1995 the Los Angeles Times described him as "one of Britain's best-regarded actors, classically trained, with stints at the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre".
Early life
Freeman was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire, on 18 January 1943.
Career
Freeman began his career in advertising and teaching, and gained small roles in the theatre, appearing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet. He had roles at the National Theatre and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Freeman made his television debut in 1978 in the serial Will Shakespeare (1978). He also acted in the docudrama Death of a Princess, a film about the execution of Misha'al bint Fahd al Saud of Saudi Arabia.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Paul Freeman (actor)” as english actor. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as english actor. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1378684. VIAF identifies the subject as 26660807. The Library of Congress control number is no96054440. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1943, 1981, 1984 and 1995.
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This entry incorporates text from “Paul Freeman (actor)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.