Myrna Colley-Lee: Career, Marriage and Artistic Legacy

Written and researched by Wade M. Johnson

Myrna Colley-Lee is an American costume designer, scenic designer, art director, arts advocate and collector. Although many people first recognize her as the former wife of actor Morgan Freeman, she built an independent and respected career in theater long before her marriage became a subject of public interest.

Her professional life is closely connected with costume design, Black theater and arts advocacy. Over several decades, Colley-Lee has helped stage productions communicate character, history and culture through visual design. The Mississippi Arts Commission describes her as an internationally known costume designer and recognizes her important role in the Black Theatre Movement.

Many online biographies focus mainly on her relationship with Morgan Freeman or repeat uncertain claims about her age, net worth and divorce settlement. However, the available public record shows a much broader story. Colley-Lee developed a long theater career, supported arts organizations in Mississippi, preserved important costume collections and remained professionally involved with the arts into the 2020s.

Quick Facts About Myrna Colley-Lee

Colley-Lee said in a 2011 oral-history interview that she was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, in 1941. Her professional career and her 2022 state arts recognition are also documented by major Mississippi arts institutions.

Who Is Myrna Colley-Lee?

Myrna Colley-Lee is best known professionally as a theater and visual-design specialist. Public interest in her grew because of her marriage to Morgan Freeman, but her career had already developed around costume design, scenic design and the performing arts.

The Mississippi Arts Commission describes her as an internationally known costume designer and one of the important designers connected with the Black Theatre Movement. Her work helped shape the visual identity of productions dealing with African American history, family life, culture and social experience.

Arizona Theatre Company states that Colley-Lee has designed costumes for more than 70 productions and two films across around 50 theaters and venues. This long record shows that her professional identity goes far beyond the common description of her as simply a celebrity’s former wife.

Early Life and Education

One of the clearest sources for Myrna Colley-Lee’s early life is a 2011 oral-history interview preserved by the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. In that interview, she said she was born in Hamlet, North Carolina, in 1941. She was one of five daughters born to Val Marie Colley Lee and Alvis Augustus Lee.

Her formal education was strongly connected to art and theater. Colley-Lee earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in art education from the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina, which is now known as the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

She later continued her studies in scene painting and properties at Brooklyn College. After that, she completed a Master of Fine Arts in scenic and costume design at Temple University.

This combination of art education and theater design prepared her for a career that required more than simply choosing clothing for actors. Costume design brings together fabric, color, shape, historical detail and character development. A strong costume can help an audience understand a person’s background, social position and personality before that character even speaks.

Myrna Colley-Lee’s Career in Costume Design

Colley-Lee began working professionally in the late 1960s, a period when Black theater was growing in both artistic importance and institutional strength across the United States. Her work eventually became closely connected with the Black Theatre Movement.

Both the Mississippi Arts Commission and the Mississippi Legislature have recognized her importance within this movement. Her career includes work on productions that explore African American history, identity, family relationships and social change.

Her documented theater credits include The Wedding Band at Steppenwolf Theatre, The Piano Lesson and Forest City at Cleveland Play House, The Ballad of Emmett Till at Goodman Theatre, and Radio Golf in Pittsburgh.

Later credits include Trouble in Mind at Utah Shakespeare Festival and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Writers Theatre. She has also worked on several productions connected with playwright August Wilson.

Arizona Theatre Company notes that Colley-Lee has designed Fences more than once and later worked on Freedom Riders. In early 2025, she served as costume designer for Arizona Theatre Company’s production of Blues in the Night. This credit shows that her professional involvement in theater continued many decades after she first entered the field.

Her work is especially important in productions where costume carries historical and cultural meaning. Clothing can communicate the time period, economic position, community background and emotional state of a character. Colley-Lee’s experience allowed her to use those details as part of the storytelling rather than treating costume as simple decoration.

Her Costume Collection and Archival Legacy

Another important part of Colley-Lee’s legacy is the preservation of her professional work.

Mississippi State University houses the Myrna Colley-Lee Costume Collection as a working resource connected with Theatre MSU. The university also preserves her professional papers, including scripts, playbills, photographs, design materials, sketches, rehearsal documents and costumes.

These materials provide a detailed look at the creative process behind theater design. They show how an idea develops from research and early sketches into a completed costume that appears on stage.

Her Glad Rags materials have also been presented in exhibitions, allowing audiences to see how costumes move from concept to finished design. In 2006, Mississippi State formally accepted part of her collection while presenting Glad Rags: Sketches, Swatches and Costume Designs.

Colley-Lee’s interests also extend beyond costume design. LSU Museum of Art has described her as an artist, collector, advocate and arts patron. Its presentation of Reflections: African American Life from the Myrna Colley-Lee Collection highlighted her work as a collector and her interest in preserving and sharing African American visual culture.

These collections give her career a lasting educational value. Students, researchers and future theater designers can study her materials long after the individual productions themselves have ended.

Arts Advocacy and Community Work

Myrna Colley-Lee has also spent many years supporting cultural organizations and arts programs, particularly in Mississippi.

Institutional sources describe her as a longtime arts advocate and a former commissioner with the Mississippi Arts Commission. She was also a founding figure in the SonEdna Foundation, an organization that supported writers and literary arts in the Mississippi Delta.

Her work in the arts has therefore gone beyond her own productions. She has supported organizations that help artists, writers and communities participate in cultural work.

Her service has continued alongside her design career. New Stage Theatre in Jackson lists Myrna Colley Lee on its advisory board for the 2025–2026 season.

In 2022, Colley-Lee received the Mississippi Governor’s Arts Award for Excellence in Costume Design & Arts Patron. The Mississippi Arts Commission presents the Governor’s Arts Awards in partnership with the Governor’s Office to recognize meaningful artistic achievement and cultural contribution within the state.

This award recognized not only her work as a designer but also her wider support for arts and cultural life.

Marriage to Morgan Freeman

Myrna Colley-Lee married actor Morgan Freeman on June 16, 1984. Their marriage lasted for more than two decades and brought Colley-Lee much greater attention from entertainment media than her behind-the-scenes theater career normally received.

The couple separated in December 2007. Their divorce was finalized on September 15, 2010, by a Tallahatchie County judge.

Contemporary Associated Press reporting stated that the divorce was completed without a trial and that the financial terms were sealed.

That detail is important because some celebrity websites publish very large figures for Colley-Lee’s alleged divorce settlement. Since the actual financial terms were sealed, those numbers cannot be treated as confirmed facts.

Colley-Lee and Freeman did not have biological children together according to published biographies. They did, however, help raise E’Dena Hines, Freeman’s step-granddaughter from his first marriage.

Although the marriage remains one of the most searched parts of Colley-Lee’s life story, it represents only one part of a much longer career in theater, visual design and arts advocacy.

What Is Myrna Colley-Lee Doing Now?

Colley-Lee keeps her personal life relatively private, so there is limited reliable information about her day-to-day activities. However, public records show that she has remained connected to theater and arts organizations.

Her 2025 costume-design credit for Blues in the Night demonstrates that she continued working professionally in theater. Her 2025–2026 New Stage Theatre advisory-board listing also shows an ongoing connection to arts leadership and community involvement.

Research for this biography did not uncover a major, well-sourced 2026 announcement involving a new production, major award, public controversy or personal milestone. For that reason, there is no separate “Recent News” section simply for the sake of making the biography appear current.

Why Her Legacy Matters

Myrna Colley-Lee’s life story is often introduced through her marriage to Morgan Freeman, but her own professional record reaches across nearly six decades of costume design, theater, visual storytelling, arts advocacy and cultural preservation.

Costume designers usually work away from the spotlight, but their creative choices shape the way audiences understand a character, a historical period and even the emotional mood of a scene. Colley-Lee’s long connection with Black theater gave that work an additional cultural importance.

Her legacy is also preserved through physical collections and archives. Costumes, drawings, research materials and professional papers connected with her work have been saved instead of disappearing after individual productions closed.

Because of that preservation, future students, researchers and theater professionals can continue learning from her career. Her influence therefore exists not only in the productions she designed but also in the institutions, archives and artistic communities she supported.

How This Was Researched

I researched this biography using Myrna Colley-Lee’s 2011 oral-history interview, official theater biographies, Mississippi State University archives, Mississippi Arts Commission records, museum sources and contemporary reporting about her divorce.

I also reviewed leading biography pages to see which details were widely repeated and which claims had weak or unclear sourcing. Where websites gave conflicting information, particularly about her exact birthday, net worth or divorce settlement, I did not present those claims as confirmed facts. I also checked for major 2026 developments but did not find a reliable update strong enough to justify a separate news section.

Frequently Asked Questions

How old is Myrna Colley-Lee in 2026?

Myrna Colley-Lee was born in 1941, which means she is about 84 or 85 years old in 2026, depending on her birthday. Her own 2011 oral-history interview confirms her birth year, but reliable institutional sources reviewed for this article do not clearly establish the exact month and day.

What does Myrna Colley-Lee do?

Myrna Colley-Lee is best known as a costume designer. She has also worked in scenic and set design, art direction, collecting and arts advocacy. Her long career includes theater productions, cultural preservation and work with arts organizations.

Was Myrna Colley-Lee married to Morgan Freeman?

Yes. Myrna Colley-Lee married Morgan Freeman on June 16, 1984. They separated in December 2007, and their divorce was finalized on September 15, 2010.

Did Myrna Colley-Lee and Morgan Freeman have children together?

According to published accounts, Myrna Colley-Lee and Morgan Freeman did not have biological children together. They did, however, help raise E’Dena Hines, Freeman’s step-granddaughter from his first marriage.

What is Myrna Colley-Lee’s net worth?

There is no reliable public source confirming a specific Myrna Colley-Lee net worth as of 2026. The financial terms of her divorce were sealed, so large settlement and net-worth figures repeated on celebrity websites should be treated as unverified.

Is Myrna Colley-Lee still active in the arts?

Yes, based on available public records. She designed costumes for Arizona Theatre Company’s Blues in the Night in 2025 and is listed on New Stage Theatre’s advisory board for the 2025–2026 session.

Accuracy Note

This biography is based on publicly available interviews, institutional records, official arts and theater sources, and verified news reporting. Some personal details remain private or are reported differently across websites, so uncertain claims have been identified rather than presented as confirmed facts.

Written and researched by Wade M. Johnson, contributor at Novidate Magazine.

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