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CNN Live Sunday

Interview With Lisagay Hamilton

Aired February 22, 2004 - 18:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mrs. Prentice, I'm Christina Jayton. How do you do?

NARRATOR (voict-over): Her given name Beulah Elizabeth Richardson may not ring a bell, but I bet you remember Beah Richards as Sidney Poitier's mother in the film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would you like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: May I have some chili please? What a lovely room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. John, would you be bartender?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEAH RICHARDS, ACTRESS: I've been everybody's mother from Sydney to James Earl Jones. And Great White Hopes, so I've been everybody's mother from the very beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: You saw in that clip in a brief interview the Oscar nominated actress, Beah Richards. She is the subject of a documentary entitled "Beah, A Black Woman Speaks".

The actress filmmaker friend, who made the documentary Lisagay Hamilton, joins us now from Los Angeles to talk more about it. Miss Hamilton thanks for being with us tonight.

LISAGAY HAMILTON, FILMMAKER: Thank you so much for having us here.

SAN MIGUEL: We want to point out that our viewers may remember Miss Hamilton from her role on the series "The Practice." But you first met Beah Richards during the making of the movie "Beloved." Tell us what those initial meetings were like. I think I read before that you had said you were intimidated by meeting her.

HAMILTON: I was I would say for many, especially in the African American community, Beah Richards represented very much royalty in terms of a great actress in our community.

So when I had the opportunity to actually meet her, and work opposite her, I was, as I said in the film, a little intimidated by her legend. But soon after when we met, that intimidation level clearly disappeared and we became very, very close friends.

SAN MIGUEL: So at what point did this become an idea for a documentary and you were able to get her cooperation in that?

HAMILTON: I have sort of a wonderful magical story to all this. As Beah and I became friends, I was learning more and more, as she said that she wasn't just the old woman or the mother to everyone. In fact, she was a freedom fighter, she was a political activist, and she was a poet, a dancer.

She knew Paul Robeson. She knew W.E.B. Debois. I shared my visits with Jonathan Demme, the director of "Beloved", and said to him that Beah was in fact suffering from complications from emphysema, not knowing just how much longer she would be with us, that we really should document this.

I really actually didn't say that way, I said we should do something on her. So, the next day Jonathon called Beah, and asked her was she interested in documenting her life? She said yes.

And then he called me asking me was I ready to direct the documentary on Beah Richards. Well, I was quite thrown by that, but the rest is history because here we are on CNN.

SAN MIGUEL: Indeed. I was able to dig up a quote by Miss Richards from a book called "I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America," where she says this.

"There are a lot of movies out there that I would hate to be paid to do. Some real demeaning, real woman denegrating stuff. It is up to women to change their roles. They are going to have to write the stuff and do it, and they will".

What did she tell you about her struggle to find roles that rose above stereotypes, roles that had honor for a black woman?

HAMILTON: I think what's interesting about Beah's career is that I'm not sure she necessarily found roles that did all of that. But it is what she brought to those roles that said to us that this role was above -- just beyond what the words were giving her.

It was Beah's philosophy that life and theater and film were not that much different, that it was all the same. So it is Beah's purpose in life that allowed her to go beyond that which is stereotypical in the roles that were given her.

SAN MIGUEL: She was able to do that. But, she had to have talked about some of the TV roles she was on, and some of the other movie roles that maybe she rejected. She actually had to -- she was a playwright, and she wrote some material -- she wrote some of her own plays. Just to be able to act out some themes and issues that she wanted to discuss that weren't being written for her. HAMILTON: Very much so. Certainly Beah was not necessarily a household name, and she certainly didn't pass being a millionaire, but this was someone who even though the roles that Hollywood offered her were limited, she went on to continue to write poetry, to write plays, to direct plays and toured around the country doing a very famous poem that she wrote in 1950 called "A Black Woman Speaks" which many in the university circuit would have remembered Beah performing at their school.

So you are right. She was very active within her own craft. Writing her own material.

SAN MIGUEL: We mentioned that you had a role on "The Practice," you were instrumental in actually getting her on "The Practice." We want to take a look at a scene from your documentary that explains that appearance on the show, and that whole experience. Let's take a quick look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMILTON (voice-over): When I called to tell her she got the gig, she kept saying, I don't believe it, sister. I don't believe it. It was amazing to act with her again, and especially now that we had become so close.

I have often wondered whether Beah knew this would be her final performance.

So when you heard that Beah Richards was doing the part of Gertrude, how did you feel about that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was what made me decide to do this. The most impressive thing about working with Beah has been her ability to define for the artists around her what it is, what the work is.

Sometimes I find myself unable to figure out what it is I should be feeling or doing. And when you work with someone who is so sure, then you don't have to work so hard trying to figure out anything at all. You just go with the flow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAN MIGUEL: And indeed, she would end up winning her third Emmy for that performance on "The Practice," and she died just a few days later. What did she teach you about how you approach your career, and did she inspire any career choices with you?

HAMILTON: There's a wonderful quote from Beah toward the end of the film and she says "It's not but making your living as an actor. It is about you living as a human being." And Beah and I never really specifically spoke about my career as much as she encouraged me to become the human being that I wanted, as she says in the film, the world that we want to live in, the world that we need to live in needs you. Needs the individual to participate.

So I -- I hope that in all of the philosophies and teachings that I have gained from Beah, I am learning to be a better mother, a better daughter, a better citizen, and yes, of course, a better actor.

SAN MIGUEL: And a director, as well. This is your first directing job, and you're also now directing on "The Practice", as well we should mention. The documentary "Beah a black woman speaks" premiers on HBO Wednesday night at 8:30 Eastern Time. Lisagay Hamilton is the director. Thanks so much for your time, and good luck with the documentary.

HAMILTON: Thank you for having me.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired February 22, 2004 - 18:44   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mrs. Prentice, I'm Christina Jayton. How do you do?

NARRATOR (voict-over): Her given name Beulah Elizabeth Richardson may not ring a bell, but I bet you remember Beah Richards as Sidney Poitier's mother in the film "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner".

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What would you like?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: May I have some chili please? What a lovely room.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you. John, would you be bartender?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEAH RICHARDS, ACTRESS: I've been everybody's mother from Sydney to James Earl Jones. And Great White Hopes, so I've been everybody's mother from the very beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RENAY SAN MIGUEL, CNN ANCHOR: You saw in that clip in a brief interview the Oscar nominated actress, Beah Richards. She is the subject of a documentary entitled "Beah, A Black Woman Speaks".

The actress filmmaker friend, who made the documentary Lisagay Hamilton, joins us now from Los Angeles to talk more about it. Miss Hamilton thanks for being with us tonight.

LISAGAY HAMILTON, FILMMAKER: Thank you so much for having us here.

SAN MIGUEL: We want to point out that our viewers may remember Miss Hamilton from her role on the series "The Practice." But you first met Beah Richards during the making of the movie "Beloved." Tell us what those initial meetings were like. I think I read before that you had said you were intimidated by meeting her.

HAMILTON: I was I would say for many, especially in the African American community, Beah Richards represented very much royalty in terms of a great actress in our community.

So when I had the opportunity to actually meet her, and work opposite her, I was, as I said in the film, a little intimidated by her legend. But soon after when we met, that intimidation level clearly disappeared and we became very, very close friends.

SAN MIGUEL: So at what point did this become an idea for a documentary and you were able to get her cooperation in that?

HAMILTON: I have sort of a wonderful magical story to all this. As Beah and I became friends, I was learning more and more, as she said that she wasn't just the old woman or the mother to everyone. In fact, she was a freedom fighter, she was a political activist, and she was a poet, a dancer.

She knew Paul Robeson. She knew W.E.B. Debois. I shared my visits with Jonathan Demme, the director of "Beloved", and said to him that Beah was in fact suffering from complications from emphysema, not knowing just how much longer she would be with us, that we really should document this.

I really actually didn't say that way, I said we should do something on her. So, the next day Jonathon called Beah, and asked her was she interested in documenting her life? She said yes.

And then he called me asking me was I ready to direct the documentary on Beah Richards. Well, I was quite thrown by that, but the rest is history because here we are on CNN.

SAN MIGUEL: Indeed. I was able to dig up a quote by Miss Richards from a book called "I Dream a World: Portraits of Black Women Who Changed America," where she says this.

"There are a lot of movies out there that I would hate to be paid to do. Some real demeaning, real woman denegrating stuff. It is up to women to change their roles. They are going to have to write the stuff and do it, and they will".

What did she tell you about her struggle to find roles that rose above stereotypes, roles that had honor for a black woman?

HAMILTON: I think what's interesting about Beah's career is that I'm not sure she necessarily found roles that did all of that. But it is what she brought to those roles that said to us that this role was above -- just beyond what the words were giving her.

It was Beah's philosophy that life and theater and film were not that much different, that it was all the same. So it is Beah's purpose in life that allowed her to go beyond that which is stereotypical in the roles that were given her.

SAN MIGUEL: She was able to do that. But, she had to have talked about some of the TV roles she was on, and some of the other movie roles that maybe she rejected. She actually had to -- she was a playwright, and she wrote some material -- she wrote some of her own plays. Just to be able to act out some themes and issues that she wanted to discuss that weren't being written for her. HAMILTON: Very much so. Certainly Beah was not necessarily a household name, and she certainly didn't pass being a millionaire, but this was someone who even though the roles that Hollywood offered her were limited, she went on to continue to write poetry, to write plays, to direct plays and toured around the country doing a very famous poem that she wrote in 1950 called "A Black Woman Speaks" which many in the university circuit would have remembered Beah performing at their school.

So you are right. She was very active within her own craft. Writing her own material.

SAN MIGUEL: We mentioned that you had a role on "The Practice," you were instrumental in actually getting her on "The Practice." We want to take a look at a scene from your documentary that explains that appearance on the show, and that whole experience. Let's take a quick look at that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HAMILTON (voice-over): When I called to tell her she got the gig, she kept saying, I don't believe it, sister. I don't believe it. It was amazing to act with her again, and especially now that we had become so close.

I have often wondered whether Beah knew this would be her final performance.

So when you heard that Beah Richards was doing the part of Gertrude, how did you feel about that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was what made me decide to do this. The most impressive thing about working with Beah has been her ability to define for the artists around her what it is, what the work is.

Sometimes I find myself unable to figure out what it is I should be feeling or doing. And when you work with someone who is so sure, then you don't have to work so hard trying to figure out anything at all. You just go with the flow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAN MIGUEL: And indeed, she would end up winning her third Emmy for that performance on "The Practice," and she died just a few days later. What did she teach you about how you approach your career, and did she inspire any career choices with you?

HAMILTON: There's a wonderful quote from Beah toward the end of the film and she says "It's not but making your living as an actor. It is about you living as a human being." And Beah and I never really specifically spoke about my career as much as she encouraged me to become the human being that I wanted, as she says in the film, the world that we want to live in, the world that we need to live in needs you. Needs the individual to participate.

So I -- I hope that in all of the philosophies and teachings that I have gained from Beah, I am learning to be a better mother, a better daughter, a better citizen, and yes, of course, a better actor.

SAN MIGUEL: And a director, as well. This is your first directing job, and you're also now directing on "The Practice", as well we should mention. The documentary "Beah a black woman speaks" premiers on HBO Wednesday night at 8:30 Eastern Time. Lisagay Hamilton is the director. Thanks so much for your time, and good luck with the documentary.

HAMILTON: Thank you for having me.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com