Best known for her role as Sidney Poitier's mother in Guess Who's Coming To Dinner, Beah Richards' elegant Hollywood screen presence belied her feisty disposition as an erstwhile political activist. Actress-cum-filmmaker LisaGay Hamilton--who was inspired to tell Richards' story after playing opposite her in the 1998 feature film Beloved--traces Richards' life from her modest upbringing as a preacher's daughter in Vicksburg, Mississippi, through her markedly varied career as an actress, playwright, poet, and political activist. As a colleague and friend, Hamilton was allowed access to Richards during her final months as she battled (and eventually succumbed) to emphysema--an intimacy that lends a poignant tone to Richards' reflections, rhapsodizing, and rants about her artistic, social, and political experiences in late 20th century America. After dropping out of college, Richards moved to California (to pursue an acting career), where she met future friend and mentor, Louise Patterson, and began her lifelong fight for civil rights alongside such luminaries as Langston Hughes, W. E. B. DuBois, and Paul Robeson. Of particular interest here is the archival footage of Richards reading her socially progressive poetry that, taken together with her friendships within various social protest movements, landed her on J. Edgar Hoover's FBI watch list for nearly three decades. Interviews and commentary from friends and colleagues round out this winning celebration of Richards' life and art. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (A. Cantú)
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
(2003) 91 min. VHS: $89: public libraries; $295: colleges & universities. Women Make Movies. PPR. Color cover. Volume 19, Issue 4
Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
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