Many people often blasphemously (and hilariously) joke around that Morgan Freeman is God. Not only because of his pitch perfect casting as God but also due to his smooth, defining and, yes, god-like is Morgan Freeman’s voice that one can’t picture penguins or parts of nature or, yes, God, without hearing the man. One reason could be that we’ve only ever really known Morgan Freeman as an older actor, not striking a chord with mainstream audiences until he was in his 50s.

Soon enough his skills, screen presences and voice had Hollywood calling every time they needed a kind wise grandfather types or a grizzled vet from either side of the the law or any type of narration in any type of film. That persona has marked him as a welcome figure throughout modern cinema – despite the nearly constant cash grabs that pad out the unfortunate bulk of his filmography.