Morgan Freeman visits The Bridge 1859 in Dublin.The Bridge 1859, Facebook
Morgan Freeman treated the folks in The Bridge 1859 to a surprise visit on Sunday night when he was in town for a special UCD Festival event.
“Great to see @morganfreeman and his band pop into The Bridge 1859 last night while enjoying their time in Dublin for the UCD Festival,” the Irish pub said in a social media post on Monday, June 12.
“Definitely a memory that will be going up on the wall of fame at The Bridge!”
Noel Anderson, managing director of The Bridge 1859, separately said: "I have been a massive fan of this man [Freeman] over the years, love his movies.
"Having Morgan Freeman visit The Bridge 1859 today was definitely one of the coolest things to ever happen there."
Freeman was in Ireland to serve as honorary emcee of The Delta Blues Project, a collaboration between the RTÉ Concert Orchestra and US-based Irish jazz impresario David O’Rourke which was hosted as part of the UCD Festival on Sunday evening.
Freeman, along with Eric Meier, is the co-owner of the Mississippi-based Ground Zero Blues Club, which the UCD Festival said was "instrumental" in bringing the collaboration to fruition.
“Blues is just lament,” Freeman told RTÉ News ahead of the special event on Sunday evening.
“The Blues is sung by people who have a serious problem in life - my woman left me, my dad died, I lost my job - whatever it is, that’s the Blues.”
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman is in Dublin tonight to MC a special performance by the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. They are performing 'The Delta Blues Project', a collaboration with leading jazz and blues musicians. pic.twitter.com/WVhyNhUJ05
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 11, 2023
Freeman told the audience at UCD's O'Reilly Hall on Sunday evening: "Enjoy the night I'm going to be right here with you."
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman was @ucddublin last night for The Delta Blues Project.
A collaboration between @rte_co and @GZBClub with conductor/arranger David O'Rourke.
Honorary MC Morgan Freeman said, "Enjoy the night I'm going to be right here with you."#UCDFestival pic.twitter.com/nlb0DUfujt
— RTÉ (@rte) June 12, 2023
In 1995, Freeman landed his third Oscar nomination for his role as Ellis Boyd 'Red' Redding in "The Shawshank Redemption."
In the critically acclaimed film, Freeman's character is asked why he's called 'Red,' to which he responds: "Maybe it's because I'm Irish."