When he uttered the famous last voiceover line, “I hope the Pacific is as blue as it has been in my dreams," in the popular film The Shawshank Redemption, Morgan Freeman wasn’t so much acting as he was pulling on heartstrings of his own in hopes that it would resonate with the audience and cap the masterpiece. That’s because not only does Freeman admit a lifelong affinity for the sea, he’s also an avid sailor. The one thing people don’t know about him is exactly why he wears an earring. In an interview following the filming of the movie, Freeman explained that he always wanted an earring because of his attachment to the sea. "You know why sailors used to wear a gold earring? It’s enough money to bury you in a foreign country.” Freeman says there are two tricks to being a good sailor: one is courage and the willingness to face the sea, and the rest is just knowledge — listening to other sailors talk about how to survive almost unsurvivable situations. “After you’ve been in mortal danger, you don’t look at the world differently — you look at yourself differently.”
