Kofi Annan looked remarkably similar to Morgan Freeman.
It’s hard to be anonymous when you’re a legendary UN diplomat but it’s even harder when you look like ‘God’s’ doppelganger.
In 2012, six years after retiring as UN chief, while laying low at a friend’s place in Italy, Annan was misidentified as the legendary thespian Morgan Freeman.
He was in a shop with his wife when a group of men approached. Annan thought they’d recognised him when one of the men gave him a pen and asked: “Morgan Freeman, may I have an autograph?"
Annan flashed a smile, scribbled Morgan Freeman and ran away as quickly as feasible.
The Opposite has also happened. A group of Buddhist monks, to criticised Kofi Annan over the Rohingya incident had inadvertently ended up using a picture of Morgan Freeman!
At an event in April to mark his 80th birthday, Annan was defensive about his role in Rwanda, joked wryly about being mistaken for actor Morgan Freeman after retiring, and decried a lack of strong leaders to help handle crises.
"We have had difficulties in the past but in some cases leadership has made a difference," he said, ending on an upbeat note: "I am a stubborn optimist, I was born an optimist and will remain an optimist. The moment I lose hope all is lost, I encourage you to keep hope as well."
Kofi Annan, the former United Nations Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who died on Saturday, will be remembered as a dedicated humanitarian whose career was tarnished by ugly conflicts that spun out of control.
PM Modi also condoled his passing, writing: "We express our profound sorrow at the passing away of Nobel laureate and former UNSG Kofi Annan. The world has lost not only a great African diplomat and humanitarian but also a conscience keeper of international peace and security. Kofi Annan's significant contribution to the MDGs (Millenium Development Goals) will always be remembered. My thoughts are with his family and admirers in this hour of grief. May his soul rest in peace."
Annan was unable to bring peace to Syria and bring to rest the failures of diplomacy in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, Cyprus, Somalia and Iraq, which are likely to drown out the plaudits for his softly spoken mediation and efforts to eradicate poverty and AIDS that won him the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.
Annan was brought up in an ethnically divided culture in his native Ghana, but one where dialogue was prized and outright conflict rare. It was a time of optimism and confidence as Ghana headed for independence from Britain.
"He's driven by the idea of 'don't think no', always looking for the best outcome," Fred Eckhard, Annan's spokesman during his time as secretary-general, once told Reuters.
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 "Morgan Freeman and Kofi Annan")
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