Freeman has made appearances in many movies, such as "My Sweet Charlie", "Finian's Rainbow", and "Malcolm X", and television series such as "The Cosby Show", "Law & Order", "Homicide: Life on the Street", "Hot L. Baltimore", 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 1987, with recurring roles in 1988 and 2000. He won a Daytime Emmy Award for Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series for that role in 1979, the first actor from the show as well as the first African American actor to earn the award. He was also a director of "One Life to Live", and was one of the first African Americans to direct a soap opera.