RAY |

Production Company:

Bristol Bay Productions

Studio:

Universal Studios

Cast:

Jamie Foxx as Ray Charles, Kerry Washington as Della Bea Robinson, Regina King as Margie Hendricks, Clifton Powell as Jeff Brown, Harry J. Lennix as Joe Adams, Bokeem Woodbine as Fathead Newman, Aunjanue Ellis as Mary Ann Fisher, Sharron Warren as Aretha Robinson, C.J. Sanders as Young Ray Robinson, Curtis Armstrong as Ahmet Ertegun, Richard Schiff as Jerry Wexler, Larenz Tate as Quincy Jones, Terrence Dashon Howard as Gossie McKee, David Krumholtz as Milt Shaw, Wendell Pierce as Wilbur Brassfield, Chris Thomas Kingas Lowell Fulsom, Thomas Jefferson Byrd as Jimmy, Rick Gomez as Tom Dowd, Denise Dowse as Marlene, Warwick Davisas Oberon, Patrick Bauchau as Dr. Hacker, Robert Wisdom as Jack Lauderdale, Kurt Fuller as Sam Clark, Julian Bond as Himself, Renee Wilson as Pat Lyle, Willie Metcalf as Mr. Pitt, Mike Pniewski as Bus Driver, Richard A. Smith as Til, Gary Grubbs as Billy Ray, Carol Sutton as Eula, Alex Van as Cop #2, Tom Clark as Alan Freed, Afemo Omilami as Angry Husband, Elizabeth Omilami as Angr Wife, Vernel Bagneris as Dancin’ Al, Fahnlohnee R. Harris as Trudy Daniels, Tequan Richmond as Ray Charles Jr. age 9-10, Matthew Benjamin as Musician in Billy Ray’s, John Swasey as Customs Agent #1, James Huston as Customs Agent #2, Marc Lynn as Downbeat Reporter, Kyle Scott Jackson as King Bee, Jedda Jones as Mercedes, Jeff Galpin as Cop #3, Michael Arata as Cop #4, Estella Denson as Lady in Rain

Crew: Taylor Hackford (Director); Taylor Hackford and James L. White (Story); James L. White (Screenplay); Ray Charles and Craig Armstrong (Original Music); Pawel Edelman (Cinematography); Paul Hirsch (Cinematography); Karen Elise Baldwin and Alise Benjamin (Executive Producers); Howard Baldwin and Stuart Benjamin (Producers)

Synopsis:
RAY CHARLES has the distinction of being both a national treasure and an international phenomenon. Soul singer Ray Charles’ life transpires on-screen, from his humble beginnings in Georgia, where he went blind at the age of seven, to his pre-fame life touring the South, and on to his career as one of the most enduring, inimitable performers in modern music. By the early 1960’s RAY CHARLES had accomplished his dream. He’d come of age musically. He’d made it to Carnegie Hall. The hit records “Georgia,” “Born to Lose” successively kept climbing to the top of the charts. He’d made his first triumphant European concert tour in 1960 (a feat which, except for 1965, he’s repeated at least once a year ever since). He had taken virtually every form of popular music and broken through its boundaries with such awe inspiring achievements as the LP’s “Genius Plus Soul Equals Jazz” and “Modern Sounds in Country.” R and B became universally respectable through his efforts. Jazz found a mainstream audience it had never previously enjoyed. And country music began to chart an unexpected course to general acceptance, then worldwide popularity. And along the way Ray Charles was instrumental in the invention of rock & roll. JAMIE FOX stars as Ray Charles in this high-energy portrait of an exceptional man who has become an American icon. Born in a poor town in central Florida, Ray Charles went blind at the age of 7. With the staunch support of his determined single mother, he developed the fierce resolve, wit and incredible talent that would eventually enable him to overcome not only Jim Crow Racism and the cruel prejudices against the blind, but also discover his own sound which revolutionized American popular music. Nonetheless, as Ray’s unprecedented fame grew, so did his weakness for drugs and women, until they threatened to strip away the very things he held most dear.