Forty years ago, Morgan Freeman was doing TV ads for mouthwash and Polaroid cameras. He had turned down a drama school scholarship to enlist in the Air Force, but when he had the chance to train as a fighter pilot toward the end of his enlistment period, he realized he wanted nothing to do with killing people. "I had this very clear epiphany," Freeman said. "I thought, 'You are not in love with this; you are in love with the idea of this.' So off I went to Hollywood." Freeman, pictured in a yearbook photo, is nominated for best actor for playing Nelson Mandela, the South African president, in "Invictus." (Barbara Murrell)