Myrna Colley-Lee is a theatre costume designer, philanthropist, and most famous as the ex-wife of the Shawshank Redemption actor, Morgan Freeman. She worked as a designer in the 1960s Black Movement as well. She is still regarded as one of the leading costume designers for the Black Theatre Movement. She has also received numerous honours and is a passionate art collector.
Who Is Myrna Colley-Lee?
Myrna Colley-Lee was born in 1941 in Hamlet, North Carolina. She graduated from the University of North Carolina’s Women’s College with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. Later, Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded her a master’s degree in scenic and costume design. She also attended Brooklyn College in New York to study properties and scene painting. Stay tuned with us to know more about her life and career.
Myrna Colley-Lee’s Career
She has experience designing costumes for numerous films and television series. In addition, she has created costumes for stage shows like “The Piano Lesson,” “Forest City,” and “Wedding Band: A Love/Hate Story in Black and White.” She has worked on several film and television shows as an art director and set designer in addition to being a costume designer. She has also dabbled with commercial interior design in more recent times. She is a commissioner for the Mississippi Arts Commission in addition.
Myrna further was a designer for August Wilson’s play, Radio Golf at the Public Theater in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
She assisted in setting up an Afro-American life-focused art display at the Columbus Museum in Georgia in 2017. In addition, Colley-Lee is the creator of SonEdna, a nonprofit that she established in 2006. The group honours and promotes authors and literary arts across all genres and contexts.
Myrna, Freeman’s ex-wife, has won various awards over the years. Among them are the Mississippi Institute of Arts and Letters Lifetime Achievement Award, Mississippi State University’s Doctor of Creative Arts, and The National Black Theatre Festival’s Outstanding Costume Design. The 2022 Governor’s Arts Award for “Excellence in Costume Design and Arts Patron” is one of her most recent honours.
Morgan Freeman And Myrna Colley-Lee
Academy Award winner Freeman and seasoned costume designer Colley-Lee crossed paths through a mutual friend. After a brief courtship, Myrna Colley-Lee and Morgan Freeman were joined in marriage on June 16, 1984, in a modest ceremony. At the time, she had already found success as a costume designer. Although it was her first marriage, Morgan had recently separated from his first spouse.
The couple never had any biological children, but Myrna was very close to Morgan Freeman’s children from his other relationships. Freeman gained notoriety during his marriage for having extramarital affairs, one of which was Mary Joyce Hays, a teacher. Myrna finally filed for divorce as a result of Morgan’s ongoing adultery, which caused their marriage to collapse.
After 26 years of marriage, Freeman and Colley-Lee parted ways in December 2007. The media first learned about their split during Freeman’s August 2008 Mississippi auto accident. Freeman and his ex-wife, Colley-Lee finalized their divorce in 2010 in Mississippi.
What Is Myrna Colley-Lee Doing Now?
Even though Morgan is supposedly seeing film producer Lori McCreary, it’s hard to know what’s really going on in Freeman’s ex-wife Colley-Lee’s life—especially when it comes to her personal life.
Unlike Morgan and his partner, McCreary, who frequently appear together on red carpets, at events, and in public, Myrna’s equally fundamentals have always been a source of controversy, particularly since her divorce from the actor. Despite not being as well-known in Hollywood as her ex-husband, she maintains an active public life because of her extensive commitment in charitable endeavours.
