From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Al Freeman Jr MEd born Albert Cornelius Freeman Jr on March 21 1934 in San Antonio Texas is an AfricanAmerican actor and director Freeman has made appearances in many films such as My Sweet Charlie Finians Rainbow and Malcolm X and television series such as The Cosby Show Law Order Homicide Life on the Street and The Edge of Night He is mostly recognized for his portrayal of Police Captain Ed Hall on the ABC soap opera One Life to Live a role he played from 1972 through 1985 with recurring roles in 1988 and 2000 He won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for that role the first AfricanAmerican actor to be so honored He left the show briefly to appear in the networks controversial sitcom Hot L Baltimore During that period Ed was played by another actor Arthur Pendleton He was also a director of One Life to Live and was one of the first if not the first AfricanAmericans to direct a soap opera After leaving One Life to Live Freeman appeared in the motion picture Down in the Delta His Broadway theatre credits include Look to the Lilies Blues for Mister Charlie and Medea His portrayal of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad in the motion picture Malcolm X earned him the 1995 NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture Coincidently he had previously played Malcolm X in the 1979 miniseries Roots The Next Generations Freeman currently teaches acting as a professor at Howard University in Washington DC Description above from the Wikipedia article Al Freeman Jr licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia