Internationally, he is known for playing the rival archaeologist René Belloq in Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), evil wine baron Gustav Riebmann on season 4 of the soap opera Falcon Crest (1984–85), and supervillain Ivan Ooze in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie (1995).

[citation needed] Freeman began his career in advertising and teaching, and gained small roles in the theatre, appearing in productions of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Hamlet.

[2] He also acted in the docudrama Death of a Princess,[2] a film about the execution of Misha'al bint Fahd al Saud of Saudi Arabia.

[2] In the same year, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas chose Freeman to play archaeologist René Belloq, the archrival to Indiana Jones, in the adventure film Raiders of the Lost Ark,[2] opposite Harrison Ford.

[2] In 1988, Freeman played Professor Moriarty in comedy film Without a Clue,[2] which starred Michael Caine as a mini-brained Sherlock Holmes and Ben Kingsley as Watson, who is secretly the real crime-solving genius.

[1] Freeman guest-starred in television shows such as Monarch of the Glen,[2] ER,[2] Falcon Crest,[2] and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles.

He also appeared in Waking the Dead in the episode "Straw Dog", and played Adam Kingsley in the BBC adaptation of Minette Walters' The Dark Room.