Louis Gossett, Jr.

Directed by filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and produced by journalist Elvis Mitchell, this collaborative documentary offers an informative collection of portraits of twenty influential African Americans ranging from powerful CEOs to prolific artists, well-known politicians, and dedicated activists. Artist Bill T. Jones discusses the reaction of his contemporaries after he described himself as an artist first and a black man second, Chris Rock describes how equality in sports didn't come about until there were bad black athletes in the major leagues, and Vernon Jordan ponders the reason why there is a clear definition of black America while white America remains a vague, undefined standard. Other conversations find Academy Award-winning actor Lou Gossett Jr. discussing institutionalized racism and its effect on his onscreen career, museum curator Thelma Golden reflecting on the times when people mistakenly assumed she was her own assistant, and, by contrast, the manner in which author Toni Morrison was encouraged as a young girl to believe that women can be just as strong as men. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Diary of a Mad Black Woman mastermind Tyler Perry turns the familiar Cinderella tale on its head with this story concerning a successful female attorney who falls in love with a financially strapped mechanic. Monty (Idris Elba) is struggling mechanic and single father of three from a poor neighborhood. Upon learning that custody of his beloved daughters has been awarded to his morally bankrupt, drug-dealing ex-wife Jennifer (Tasha Smith), desperate Monty enlists the aid of beautiful Ivy league-educated lawyer Julia (Gabrielle Union) -- whom he recently met during his brief stint as a chauffeur -- in ensuring that his daughters remain with him in a stable and loving environment. Despite the vast social and economical differences that divide them, Monty and Julia soon begin to find themselves unexpectedly falling in love with one another as they work together to save Monty's daughters from a life of crime and corruption. Now, in order to reconcile their blossoming romance and overcome the forces that threaten to destroy the only thing that Monty holds dear, the concerned father and powerful lawyer will have to bridge the gap that divides them by coming together to prove that true love really does have the power to prevail. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The largest coronal mass emission ever detected is about to set the entire planet ablaze, and in order to save the human race, scientists will be forced to take the ultimate risk in this apocalyptic thriller starring Mark Dacascos and Louis Gossett Jr. An incendiary segment of the sun has broken off, and now it's hurdling directly toward planet Earth. Now, in order to save humankind from certain destruction, the world's scientists will take the bold step of exploding the polar icecaps. Even if their plan succeeds, life on Earth will be drastically different than ever before, and millions are likely to perish. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

A young boy grows up among a makeshift family of oddballs and dreamers in this adaptation of Ruben Santiago-Hudson's acclaimed one-man show. Ruben Junior (Marcus Carl Franklin) is a young boy who was born in the late '40s into a family that started crumbling not long after he was born. Ruben Junior's parents were from Lackawanna, a city in Upstate New York, and were living in a rooming house run by Nanny Crosby (S. Epatha Merkerson), whose place was a hub for the local African-American community. When Ruben Junior's parents split up, he and his mother return to Lackawanna and Nanny's rooming house; with mother overworked physically and in sad shape emotionally, Nanny takes Ruben Junior under her wing, and offers him the sort of nurturing she gives all her boarders. Nanny's house is full of people struggling for a fresh start in life, ranging from former convicts to recovering drug addicts, and she opens both her doors and her heart to them as they strive to make themselves better people. Ruben Junior finds a loving home amidst the colorful eccentrics in Nanny's circle of friends, but as America changes over the course of the 1950s and '60s, so does the neighborhood where Nanny and her tenants live -- and not for the better. Produced for the premium cable network HBO, Lackawanna Blues features a stellar supporting cast, including Delroy Lindo, Louis Gossett Jr., Rosie Perez, Jimmy Smits, Jeffrey Wright, Mos Def, and Ernie Hudson. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

The time: June 1998. The place: The sleepy town of Jasper, TX. Three young, self-styled white supremists overpower a 49-year-old black man named James Byrd Jr., chain him to the back of their pickup, and literally drag him to death. What follows is a media firestorm, exacerbated by scores of network and cable-TV news services, the grim pronouncements of so-called pundits, and the intrusion upon Jasper of several extremist activists, ranging from members of the Ku Klux Klan to the newly formed Black Panthers. As the frenzy continues, the heretofore peaceful, if somewhat tenuous, relationship between the white and black residents of Jasper is severely strained, with echoes of past racism resounding throughout the area. In the center of the controversy are two decent, hard-working public servants: R.C. Horn, the first black mayor of Jasper, and Billy Rowles, the town's white sheriff. Also profoundly affected by the appalling murder of Byrd are the respective parents of the victim and the killers. Happily, when the dust clears, justice is done (two of the murderers are condemned to death, the third sentenced to life imprisonment), and, instead of being wrenched apart, the black and white communities of Jasper draw closer together than they have ever been. Made for cable TV, this feature-length reenactment stars Louis Gossett Jr. as Horn and Jon Voight as Rowles. Although certain liberties are taken (the actor playing Byrd is clearly much younger than his real-life counterpart and the Black Panthers and KKK are incorrectly shown descending upon Jasper the same day), the film is, by and large, accurate. Better still, there is a minimum of preaching and proselytizing. Previewed at the Philadelphia Film Festival, Jasper, Texas was given its official Showtime network cable premiere on June 8, 2003 -- almost five years to the day after Byrd's death. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Christian independent film company Cloud Ten Productions presents this science fiction-tinged thriller in the same vein of their other offerings, such as Left Behind. Directed by Andre vanHeerden, Deceived stars Judd Nelson as Jack Jones, a scientist brought in to help discern the purpose and source of a strange, extraterrestrial signal that seems to have a mysterious effect on the psychic abilities of those exposed to it. The film also stars Michelle Nolden, Stuart Beck, and Academy Award-winner Louis Gossett Jr. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

The scene is the small Missouri town of Silver Shade in the mid-'60s. Despite deeply ingrained prejudice, black lawyer Daniel Webster Stewart (Louis Gossett Jr.) has managed to achieve success, and is now on the verge of winning an important political race. Things take a startling turn when Stewart's friend Curtis Gallegher (Sterling Macer) is accused of killing the wife of Daniel's white political opponent, Horton Roundtree (Robert Urich). Fearing accusations of "conflict of interest," Stewart at first refuses to defend Curtis in court, but a hitherto unrevealed secret in the past of his own wife Olivia (Lonette McKee) forces him to change his mind. Meanwhile, someone in town is determined to prevent Daniel from taking up Curtis' defense -- and that someone is clearly willing to stop at nothing. A sequel to the 1997 TV movie To Dance With Olivia, which also starred Louis Gossett Jr. and Lonette McKee, For Love of Olivia was telecast by CBS on March 18, 2001. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This made-for-TV drama is based on the true-life story of Dr. Lucille Teasdale (Marina Orsini), who was one of the first female surgeons to practice in Canada. After establishing a practice in Quebec, Teasdale was re-introduced to Dr. Piero Corti (Massimo Ghini), a fellow surgeon she first met while studying in Montreal. Corti persuaded Teasdale to join him as he traveled to Uganda, and they soon fell in love and got married. Corti and Teasdale dedicated themselves to helping heal the people of Uganda through poverty, plague, and bloody civil war; together they founded St. Mary's Hospital, which was regarded as one of the finest medical facilities in Africa, and they selflessly devoted 14 hours a day to treating their patients. Teasdale contracted the HIV virus when she cut herself while performing surgery on an infected patient in 1979, but continued her practice, using careful precautions to prevent her from spreading the disease, and displaying her devotion to the Ugandan people until her death in 1996. Originally produced for Canadian television, Dr. Lucille also features Louis Gossett Jr.. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

When the daughter of widowed Southern dowager Georgia Porter (Gena Rowlands) is killed in an accident, Georgia learns to her horror that she is the grandmother of an African-American child named Jacey (Penny Bae Bridges). At first, Georgia's inbred racism holds sway, and she does everything she can to avoid taking custody of the little girl. Eventually, however, Georgia finds herself sharing Jacey -- and her household -- with the girl's black paternal grandfather, Lou Hastings (Louis Gossett Jr.), who, truth be told, is equally appalled by the situation at hand. The Color of Love made its CBS network debut on March 19, 2000. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

A man who lowered himself to work in telephone sales finds himself not only fired from his job, but also set up by his former boss for fraud. His day continues on its downward spiral as his wife leaves him, and his corrupt landlady evicts him - - just before she herself dies. To top it all off, a young woman with two sinister travelling companions appears, claiming to be his daughter. The duo then sets out to find the truth about their relationship. ~ All Movie Guide

Originally made for the Showtime cable network, this fast-paced thriller allows viewers a look into the sometimes dangerous world of two United States Postal Inspectors as they try to find the culprit behind a mail bombing. The two inspectors couldn't be more different. Frank Hughes (Louis Gossett Jr.) has been at the job for years and is an ace crime solver with his own way of doing things. His partner, Alex Urbina (Jonathan Silverman), is fresh out of Harvard and knows all of the latest crime-solving techniques. Both of their skills are tested when they are assigned to locate the person responsible for the mail bomb that left a Baltimore man dead and his wife in critical condition. The prime suspect is the couple's son Drew Carrigan, but they soon found out he was meant to be the victim. Drew points out his own suspects, but they turn out to be in prison, leaving the detectives with plenty of questions and very few clues. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide