26 February 2015
Newsdesk
Bessie, the story of blues great Bessie Smith as portrayed by Queen Latifah, will premier on HBO on May 16.
The film, directed and co-written by Dee Rees with Christopher Cleveland and Bettina Gilios, tells the story of the singer who rose to prominence in the 1920's only to have her life ended in a car accident at the age of 43. The film also stars Michael Kenneth Williams (Jack Gee, first husband), Khandi Alexander (Viola), Tika Sumpter (Lucille), Tory Kittles (Clarence), MoNique (Ma Rainey), Oliver Platt (Carl Van Vechten), Mike Epps (Richard Morgan, common law husband), Charles S. Dutton (William "Pa" Rainey) and Bryan Greenburg (John Hammond).
Smith started out busking with her brother on the streets of Chattanooga, TN and, with the help of Ma Rainey, developed her own act which played along the eastern seaboard. In 1923, she signed with Columbia Records where she rose to become Queen of the Blues and the highest paid African-American entertainer of the day. She made 160 recording for Columbia before her career went into a slump due to the depression and the decline of vaudeville.
Smith recorded her last sides, for Okeh Records, in 1933 and, on September 26, 1937, she was killed when the car in which she was riding side swiped a truck, severely injuring her arm which was propped out the window and her right side.
