Behind The Smile

Status:  Announced
Genre:   Biography
Director:  TBA
Cast:  Raven Goodwin (Hattie McDaniel)

Details:  Raven Goodwin (Being Mary Jane, The Clark Sisters), has been cast as Hattie McDaniel in a forthcoming indie biopic, Behind the Smile, Deadline reported January 7, 2021.  Gregory Blair penned the screenplay for the inspiring story, which is being produced by Jami McCoy-Lankford of Hillionaire Productions and Global Genesis Group.  No release date has been set.

Hattie McDaniel was the first Black person to win an Academy Award which she received for her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind. Her pioneering story was filled with peaks and valleys as McDaniel found herself fighting against being typecast as a servant while fending off criticism from Black fans for taking on stereotypical roles.  The night that she received her Oscar, McDaniel was forced to sit apart from the white cast at a segregated table in the back of the venue.  Over the course of her film career, Hattie McDaniel appeared in over 300 movies, but reportedly received screen credits for only 83.  In addition to acting, she was also a blues singer and radio performer and was the first Black woman to star in a network radio program, The Beulah Show.  The series moved to television but McDaniel only filmed six episodes before she fell ill.  In 1952, McDaniel died of breast cancer at age the 59.  When she died, her body could not be buried at the famed Hollywood Cemetery because the graveyard was for whites only.  Hattie McDaniel has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2006, she was honored with a U.S. postage stamp.  Source(s):  Vibe.com; MSN.com; Deadline.  Photo Source:  MSN.com.