India billboard gaffe as Nelson Mandela tribute uses picture of Morgan Freeman It was meant to be a tribute to one of the most inspiring figures of the 20th century. A merchant from India paid for a roadside billboard to honour Nelson Mandela. But he was left red-faced when it emerged the advert carried a photo of actor Morgan Freeman, instead of the anti-apartheid hero. Freeman played Mandela, who died on December 5, in the 2009 film Invictus. Chandrashekhar, the cloth merchant behind the billboard, part of memorials across India, said the designer had made a mistake. "We will replace it with the correct picture of Mandela," the merchant told AFP.