Ivan Ooze is far from the first big-screen baddie Paul Freeman portrayed over the course of his decades-long career. In fact, he's perhaps best known for playing the vile, opportunistic "archeologist" René Belloq in 1981's iconic adventure flick "Raiders of the Lost Ark." The character is a perpetual thorn in the side of Harrison Ford's Indiana Jones throughout the film, absconding with a Peruvian fertility idol recovered by Indy in its opening moments, and teaming up with Nazis to undercut Indy in his search for the sacred Ark of the Covenant later in the movie.
That latter effort would indeed prove his last, with Belloq meeting an unforgettably gruesome end late in the action. While "Raiders of the Lost Ark" fans will never fully shake the sight of Freeman's head outright exploding, his work in the role prior to that end is every bit as memorable. He's continued to deliver notable work at every point in his career, including a scene-stealing turn opposite the late, great Bob Hoskins a year prior in the celebrated Brit-crime flick "The Long Good Friday." Freeman kept himself quite busy in the '80s, appearing in 19 episodes of the primetime drama "Falcon Crest" before sharing the screen with Sean Penn and Madonna in 1986's "Shanghai Surprise."
The '90s and 2000s brought a recurring role on "E.R.," a devilish turn as a small-town cleric in "Hot Fuzz," as well as roles in numerous BBC dramas. Most recently, he starred opposite "Castle" alum Stana Katic in the Amazon series "Absentia," and turned up for an episode of the Showtime hit "The Man Who Fell to Earth."
