Bill Mack, Willie Nelson, Morgan Freeman
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“Willie Nelson was parked in his bus near his hometown, Abbott, Texas, and he decided to call me, asking me to drop by for a visit. Since Abbott is a short hop from my home in Fort Worth, I whizzed over. When I walked on the bus, Willie started chatting in a normal way, asking how things were going with me, etc. Finally, after quite a while, I noticed another visitor was on the bus with his back to me. Finally, he turned around, smiled and shook my hand. It was Morgan Freeman! Willie loves to surprise me.
It ended up being a very special occasion. Morgan, a multi-Oscar winner, is one of my favorite actors. We talked about his life in the movies, although he didn’t appear to want to spotlight his activities on film. I did find out his favorite roles were in “Shawshank Redemption”, “Driving Miss Daisy” (my favorite of his roles), “Glory” and “Unforgiven”. He claimed those movies were the highlights of his career. When asked his personal favorite movies he had seen down through the years, he mentioned “King Kong”, made in 1933, “High Noon” (1952), “Moby Dick” (1956) and “Moulin Rouge” (1952).
He informed me that watching Gary Cooper in movies as a kid was responsible for his interest in films. Although Morgan is regarded as one of Hollywood’s top stars, he doesn’t live in Los Angeles. His home is in Clarksdale, Mississippi, where he owns the “Ground Zero” bar & grill and a great restaurant named “Madidi”. I was really taken by Morgan, would like to spend more time with him in the future. I asked him what had brought him to Abbott, Texas. He laughed and replied, “Well, I heard Willie was in his bus over here, was lonely, and I just decided to drive over!” Willie finally roared with laughter and said, “Oh, I forgot to introduce you guys! Bill, this is Morgan Freeman. He’s a movie star of sorts. Morgan, this is Bill Mack Smith. Bill dropped his last name when he became sort of a disk jockey on radio.” All-in-all, it was a great day.”