Morgan Freeman on Becoming Mandela

Recently honored with a Golden Globe nomination, legendary actor Morgan Freeman spoke with Bob Schieffer about his performance as former President of South Africa Nelson Mandela in "Invictus" on Monday's "Washington Unplugged." Freeman is also the new voice of the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric.

Schieffer gave the company's latest hire a warm welcome. When asked about how he was picked to replace the late Walter Cronkite as the voice of CBS News Freeman put it bluntly, "They came up with this great idea that I should be the voice. Go figure."

Freeman told Schieffer about what difficulties he faced tackling an iconic figure like Mandela, "I'm not a person's who's facile with accents; I don't do them well, so I don't attempt them. That was going to be my hardest job with playing Mandela."

Schieffer asked how Freeman prepared to play Mandela and much of it was through spending time with the former leader, "Not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I had a lot of time to be with him. I told him if I'm going to do this I need to be able to get to you. He was agreeable, so different places around the world I got a chance to sit with him, hold his hand and pay close attention to who and how he was."

Fourteen years earlier Mandela had told reporters at an event for his autobiography "Long Walk to Freedom" that he wanted Freeman to play him if his story was ever made into a film.

Which role does Freeman think is his best? "My favorite role was the role that sort of pushed me, galvanized my career into the movies. It was a picture called "Street Smart," which I played a pimp."

"Washington Unplugged" appears live on CBSNews.com each weekday at 12:30 p.m. ET. Click here to check out previous episodes.