But in 1972, in a film called “Sounder,” she found what she was looking for: a leading role with dignity. At 110, she tells her story, the searing experience of a Black woman in the South. Her death was announced by her longtime manager, Larry Thompson, who provided no other details. The music credits end with the statement: "And special thanks to John Williams." While the book centers on the family’s concern for the dog, screenwriter Lonne Elder III stated in a Nov 1972 interview in the New Watts Awakening that he preferred to focus on the family’s daily survival. Yvonne Jarrell Josie Mae Morgan Eric Hooks Earl Morgan Inez Durham Clerk Spencer Bradford Clarence Sylvia "Kuumba" Williams Harriet Rev. Coburn’s Pulitzer Prize-winning 1976 play about two elderly residents of a retirement home drawn together over a card table. You can unsubscribe at any moment. Ms. Tyson and Yvonne Jarrell in “Sounder” (1972). Sounder is the story of a sharecropping family in rural Louisiana. Dennis Oulds/Central Press, via Getty Images. Young brusquely arrests Nathan for stealing the ham from a neighbor’s smokehouse, and leads him off to jail in handcuffs. Some of the picture’s success was due to its innovative marketing strategy. After the sheriff refuses to inform Rebecca to which labor camp Nathan has been sent, David asks Mrs. Boatwright to find out for him. The Morgans, a family of poor black sharecroppers in the Depression-plagued South, struggle to find enough to eat despite the help their hunting dog, Sounder. The disposition of the suit is not known. Sounder (1972) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Sounder (1972) Starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Taj Mahal, Carmen Mathews, Janet MacLachlan, James Best, Eric Hooks, Yvonne Jarrell, Sylvia Kuumba Williams, Teddy Airhart, Richard Durham, Spencer Bradford ©2019 AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE. Days later, David, dressed in a new suit, bids goodbye to his mother, sister and brother and sets out for his school, accompanied by his proud father. In a remarkable career of seven decades, Ms. Tyson broke ground for serious Black actors by refusing to take parts that demeaned Black people. Perkins complains to Rebecca that Nathan has made him look bad, as he has been good to the family, and demands that she do the cropping on her own if Nathan is not home by spring. The trip … Kevin Hooks, who played “David Lee Morgan,” was the son of Negro Ensemble Company founder Robert Hooks. Cicely tyson was born in harlem, new york city, where she was raised by her devoutly religious parents, from the caribbean island of nevis. The children then rush to the sugar cane fields, where the men are playing baseball, in time to see Nathan pitch a winning game. “These two superlative performers establish beyond doubt, if we needed any reminding, that great talent is ageless and ever-rewarding,” he said. In 1994, she won a supporting actress Emmy for her portrayal of Castalia in the mini-series “Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All.”. After small film and television parts in the 1950s, she joined James Earl Jones and Louis Gossett Jr. in the original New York cast of Jean Genet’s “The Blacks” in 1961. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Maya Angelou and Ms. Tyson in the 1977 mini-series “Roots.”. He is chased into ... >>. While much of the film’s action hews closely to book, in the novel the boy lives for a year with the teacher, and the action ends with the death of Sounder and the father, who was partially paralyzed by his accident. In Louisiana in 1933, the Morgan family, Nathan Lee, Rebecca and children David Lee, Earl and Josie Mae, suffers the myriad deprivations of the Depression, barely surviving by sharecropping for demanding store owner Mr. Perkins. AFI champions progress in visual storytelling to empower storytellers, inspire story lovers and further the limitless power of the moving image. In addition to critical praise, the film received numerous awards and accolades. After a three-decade absence from Broadway, Ms. Tyson returned in 2013 in a production of “The Trip to Bountiful,” playing Carrie Watts, an old woman, also conceived as a white character, who yearns to see her hometown before dying. As noted onscreen, Sounder was based on the 1969 novella of the same name by William H. Armstrong, which won a Newberry Award in 1970. All Movies of Yvonne Jarrell. Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn played the part in earlier film and television adaptations. “We Black actresses have played so many prostitutes and drug addicts and housemaids, always negative,” she told Parade magazine in 1972. Later, the children bring Mrs. Rita Boatwright her laundry, which Rebecca, who takes in laundry to supplement the family's income, has washed. Charles C. Diggs, Jr. of Michigan, who declared the film “a turning point in the art of the motion picture.” As Roger Ebert noted in the Chicago Sun-Times review, Coretta Scott King commented that the character of “David Lee Morgan” reminded her of her late husband, Dr. Martin Luther King. When Nathan shakes him in anger, declaring that he needs schooling like he needs “good air to breathe,” David runs off. Sounder. I didn’t want to be greedy. The older woman teaches the family to read a map and pinpoints the location of the camp, and the next day, Rebecca sends David off with Sounder to find his father. Her later television roles included that of Ophelia Harkness in a half dozen episodes of the long-running ABC legal drama “How to Get Away With Murder,” for which she was nominated repeatedly for Emmys and other awards for outstanding guest or supporting actress (2015-19), and in the role of Doris Jones in three episodes of “House of Cards” (2016). Another writer published an article in the 12 Nov 1972 issue of NYT lambasting the film for its lack of realism, stating that “blacks still know too little about each other…while white filmmakers are laughing their heads off all the way to the bank.” Elder wrote a letter to the editor countering both critiques, stating that the characters were based on people he knew, and labeling Canby’s tone “condescending hauteur.” Other reviewers felt that the film was overly simplistic and sentimentalized, while the New Watts Awakening critic stated: “While Sounder no doubt is a milestone, much of its effect is diluted by keeping the action detached and isolated in its historical setting.” In 1974, Ms. Tyson stunned a national television audience with her Emmy Award-winning portrayal of a former slave in the CBS special “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman,” adapted from the novel by Ernest J. Gaines. “This is the culmination of all those years of have and have-not.”, Cicely Tyson, an Actress Who Shattered Stereotypes, Dies at 96. The young black teacher, Camille Johnson, invites him in and tends to his hand, and upon noting his fascination with the classroom, offers to put him up for the night. All Movies of Yvonne Jarrell. Previous Films More Films. Fox spent over $1 million on promoting the film, according to a Mar 1973 Var article. Through sheer determination, her career blossomed after landing the headline role of playing the wife to a sharecropper in "Sounder" — the 1972 film based on the William H. Hunter novel. The music credits end with the statement: "And special thanks to John Williams." One night, Sounder returns. For many Americans, Ms. Tyson was an idol of the Black Is Beautiful movement, regal in an African turban and caftan, her face gracing the covers of Ebony, Essence and Jet magazines. Ms. Tyson and Yvonne Jarrell in  “Sounder” (1972). Made for less than $1 million, by Sep 1973, as reported in a LAT article, Sounder had made $15 million. Many of the locations were found on site, including the schoolhouse, sharecropper’s shack and church. In a modern interview, Ritt related that he took an eighty percent pay cut to direct the film. The Emmy-winning actress started breaking down stereotypes with her first major TV roles in the early 1960s. “I wanted to keep Sounder…accurate in its historical context, and not go off on any present-day fantasies,” he added. The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. Rebecca welcomes him joyously, and although she knows that his returning to Camille’s school will mean even more work for her, she agrees to consider it. Cicely tyson was born in harlem, new york city, where she was raised by her devoutly religious parents, from the caribbean island of nevis. Ritt stated in a modern interview that although he was originally resistant to casting Tyson, considering her “too pretty” for the role, she convinced him that she could play Rebecca. Ms. Tyson eventually appeared in 29 films; at least 68 television series, mini-series and single episodes; and 15 productions on and off Broadway, including “Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright” (1962) and “To Be Young, Gifted and Black” (1969). Watch the full length movie of Sounder online or on the Fios Mobile app. Although the actress’ name is spelled “Merle Sharkey” in the onscreen credits, all contemporary sources list her as “Myrl.” Yvonne Jarrell's name is spelled "Jarrel" in the opening credits. And she appeared with James Earl Jones for nearly four months in 2015-16 in a Broadway revival of “The Gin Game,” D.L. In the interview, Elder noted that he at first refused the assignment, but producer Robert B. Radnitz and director Martin Ritt, who approached him after having seen one of his plays, convinced him to work with them. Sounder (1972) cast and crew credits, including actors, actresses, directors, writers and more. Yes, I'm over 17. David ministers to him, and although the dog heals, he will not bark. Although the actress’ name is spelled “ Merle Sharkey ” in the onscreen credits, all contemporary sources list her as “Myrl.” Yvonne Jarrell 's name is spelled "Jarrel" in the opening credits. Sounder Directed by Martin Ritt , Starring Martin Ritt , Yvonne Jarrell , Carmen Mathews , Paul Winfield , Cicely Tyson , James Best , Janet MacLachlan , Taj Mahal , Kevin Hooks Written by Martin Ritt , Yvonne Jarrell , Carmen Mathews , Paul Winfield , Cicely Tyson , James Best , Janet MacLachlan , Taj Mahal , Kevin Hooks Teacher (as Merle Sharkey) ... Sounder is the name of the family dog, but while the dog plays an important featured role, this is not a pet movie. In the interview, Elder noted that he at first refused the assignment, but producer Robert B. Radnitz and director Martin Ritt, who approached him after having seen one of his plays, convinced him to work with them. Ritt referred to Sounder in a modern interview as his most financially and possibly most artistically successful film. “Jeff” Jeffries enters his last week of home confinement, bored and ... >>, In 1941, at a boxing match in Cleveland, Ohio, pandemonium breaks out when Jake La Motta, an up-and-coming young boxer, loses a decision to Jimmy Reeves, suffering his first ... >>, At an outdoor dedication ceremony, a tramp is discovered sleeping in the arms of a statue as it is being unveiled before a crowd. In the morning, Rebecca finds sausage and ham in the kitchen, and cooks it without a word. Soon after, Rebecca goes to town to visit Nathan, leaving David in charge. The trip … A Sep 1973 LAT article stated that subsequent Radnitz/Mattel films, including Where the Lillies Bloom (1974), would be financed by the profits made by the film. The onscreen credits include the written statement: "Taj Mahal's songs copyright 1972 Blackwood Music, Inc., courtesy of Columbia Records." In 1994, an East Harlem building where she lived as a child was named for her; it and three others were rehabilitated for 58 poor families. She was critical of films and television programs that cast Black characters as criminal, servile or immoral, and insisted that African-Americans, even if poor or downtrodden, should be portrayed with dignity. See the full list of Sounder cast and crew including actors, directors, producers and more. The children then rush to the sugar cane fields, where the men are playing baseball, in time to see Nathan pitch a winning game. Sounder. Preparing for her metamorphosis, Ms. Tyson visited nursing homes to study the manifestations of old age: the frail shoulders and shaking hands, the unfocused sparkling eyes and slurred speech, the struggle for names and important thoughts just beyond reach. Best Picture nominee concerns dirt-poor black sharecroppers during the Depression who face adversity when the father is jailed for stealing to feed his … In Jan 1973, Radnitz told HR that Mattel gave him complete freedom in making the film and did not view a print until Sounder was completed. During World War II, Casablanca, Morocco is a waiting point for throngs of desperate refugees fleeing Nazi-occupied Europe. Since the ’60s she had inspired Black American women to embrace their own standards of beauty — including helping to popularize the Afro. She won three Emmys and many awards from civil rights and women’s groups, and at 88 became the oldest person to win a Tony, for her 2013 Broadway role in a revival of Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful.”. Perkins” in that film. Cicely Tyson in London in 1973. Sounder marked the first collaboration between Radnitz and toy company Mattel. For that purpose, please find our contact info in the legal notice. After the thrilled children eat their fill, she mildly asks Nathan where he was the previous night, and he responds, “I did what I had to do.” David attends school, where he and the other few black children in the class must sit in the back row. In May 1972, trade papers announced that Twentieth-Century Fox had made a deal to distribute Sounder, which studio president Gordon Stulberg called “a landmark production.” The film screened out of competition on 13 Aug 1972 at the Atlanta Film Festival. Her performance won the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards. As noted in a 20 Sep 1971 HR news item, a hurricane delayed the production for several days, due to flooding and high winds. Sounder limps off into the woods, and Rebecca holds tight to Earl and Josie Mae as David follows the wounded dog, but cannot locate him. At dinner, Nathan explains that he was injured in a dynamite blast that rendered him unable to work and so was released early. Sounder (1972) Movies Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. Sounder (1972) Starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Taj Mahal, Carmen Mathews, Janet MacLachlan, James Best, Eric Hooks, Yvonne Jarrell, Sylvia Kuumba Williams, Teddy Airhart, Richard Durham, Spencer Bradford She urged Black colleagues to do the same, and often went without work. At night, David reads The Three Musketeers to them, and on the weekends they attend church. Over many days, the boy travels through rain and sunshine, woods and fields, finally reaching the labor camp. We wish to thank Sheriff Arch V. Doughty, Judge William T. Bennett, The St. Helena Parish School Board and all of the other people of these areas who made this film possible." When father Nathan (Paul Winfield) resorts to stealing food, he is captured by police and sent to prison, and his wife, Rebecca (Cicely Tyson), is left to care for their son, David (Kevin Hooks). Directed by Hooks, it starred Daniel Lee Robertson III, Carl Lumbly and Suzzanne Douglass, with Winfield playing a teacher. A Jul 1971 DV news item stated that Mattel would back eight productions with budgets of $750,000-$1,000,000 each. He's known for Sounder (1972). The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. Returning, Young catches her and declares that if she reveals Nathan’s whereabouts to Rebecca, he will turn the entire parish against her. “It’s simple,” she said. And in November 2018, a month before she turned 94, Ms. Tyson received an honorary Oscar, a Governors Award of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Sounder was also recognized by myriad social organizations. Sounder (1972) Movies Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. It garnered Academy Award nominations for Best Picture, Best Writing (Screenplay—Based on Material from Another Medium), Best Actor (Paul Winfield) and Best Actress (Cicely Tyson). While much of the film’s action hews closely to book, in the novel the boy lives for a year with the teacher, and the action ends with the death of Sounder and the father, who was partially paralyzed by his accident. In 1995, a magnet school she supported in East Orange, N.J., was renamed the Cicely Tyson School of Performing and Fine Arts. Don’t lie to me ever, OK? Just log on to your Verizon account and watch the latest shows online. At 93, she won an honorary Oscar, and was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2018 and into the Television Hall of Fame in 2020. Review: Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Written by Martin Ritt, Yvonne Jarrell, Carmen Mathews, Paul Winfield, Cicely Tyson, James Best, Janet MacLachlan, Taj Mahal, Kevin Hooks. “Cicely Tyson transforms that role into the kind of event for which awards are made,” John J. O’Connor wrote in The Times, citing her passage from young innocence through cycles of age and maturity to shriveled, knowing antiquity. Conscientiously made, with a script by a well-known black playwright and small parts filled in by locals, this attempts to … When Sounder, barking loudly, follows the truck, the deputy shoots him. Soon after, however, Mrs. Boatwright arrives at the house and announces the location of the labor camp to Rebecca, who cries with joy. In “The Corn Is Green” (1983), an Emlyn Williams play set in Wales, Ms. Tyson received mixed reviews as Miss Moffat, an English schoolteacher in a coal-mining town who awakens the minds of impoverished youngsters. It is the depression and times are especially difficult for Nathan Morgan (Winfield) and his family; wife Rebecca (Tyson), oldest son David Lee (K. Hooks), son Earl (E. Hooks), daughter Josie Mae (Jarrell), and hunting dog Sounder. Yvonne was born on November 3, 1953 and passed away on Saturday, January 27, 2007. SOUNDER , Paul Winfield, Yvonne Jarrell, Eric Hooks, Cicely Tyson, Kevin Hooks, Taj Mahal, (1972) After graduating from Charles Evans Hughes High School, Cicely became a model, appearing in Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and elsewhere. Her father was a carpenter and painter, and her mother was a domestic worker. Sounder. EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs and archive.org item tags) Want more? In the book, the characters have no names. Despite the gathering force of the civil rights movement in the 1960s, there were few substantial roles for talented, relatively unknown Black actresses like Ms. Tyson. A still from the movie "Sounder," with Paul Winfield, Yvonne Jarrell, Eric Hooks, Cicely Tyson, Kevin Hooks, Taj Mahal in 1972. We need to check your ID. The kindly white woman lends David her copy of The Three Musketeers and offers to discuss it with him. Sounder (1972) Starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Taj Mahal, Carmen Mathews, Janet MacLachlan, James Best, Eric Hooks, Yvonne Jarrell, Sylvia Kuumba Williams, Teddy Airhart, Richard Durham, Spencer Bradford Over the hot summer, they reap and process the sugar cane, and at the end of cropping season receive their meager payment. In January 2021, when she was 96, her memoir, “Just as I Am,” appeared, and in a pre-publication interview with The New York Times Magazine, she was asked if she had any advice for the young. In Nathan’s absence, the family toils day and night to support themselves. Sounder received warm reviews and almost universal praise as a welcome antidote to the contemporaneous wave of black films, most of which were considered low quality, low budget and exploitative. EMBED (for wordpress.com hosted blogs and archive.org item tags) Want more? Sounder (1972) Starring Cicely Tyson, Paul Winfield, Kevin Hooks, Taj Mahal, Carmen Mathews, Janet MacLachlan, James Best, Eric Hooks, Yvonne Jarrell, Sylvia Kuumba Williams, Teddy Airhart, Richard Durham, Spencer Bradford Early one evening, Nathan takes David and their beloved dog Sounder to hunt raccoon for dinner. Shouting his name, she runs to meet him, and although he is limping, he drops his cane and rushes to her. American actors (left to right) Paul Winfield (1941-2004), Yvonne Jarrell, Eric Hooks, Cicely Tyson (1924-2021) and Kevin Hooks as a family of sharecroppers talk with American blues musician Taj Mahal (right) as Ike in this publicity still from the 1972 film “Sounder,” directed by Martin Ritt. In a Jan 2003 NYT article, Hooks stated that the scene of “Rebecca Morgan” running to meet the returning “Nathan Lee Morgan” was based on the finale of the 1925 King Vidor film The Big Parade (see entry). Yvonne Jarrell . American actors (left to right) Paul Winfield (1941 - 2004), Yvonne Jarrell, Eric Hooks, Cicely Tyson, and Kevin Hooks as a family of sharecroppers talk with American blues musician Taj Mahal (right) as Ike in this publicity still from the film 'Sounder,' directed by Martin Ritt, 1972. A story concerning an African-American family in the Deep South during the Great Depression, the film … According to a modern source, the filmmakers originally intended to shoot in Macon, GA, but racial tensions caused them to move to Louisiana. The religious establishment came out in favor of the film, with an endorsement by the Catholic Film Office and a study guide for religious educators created by the National Council of Churches. Mr. Jones, then 84, and Ms. Tyson, 90, were onstage for virtually all of its two-hour running time, as Charles Isherwood noted in a review for The Times. Teddy Airhart reprised his role as “Mr. After the thrilled children eat their fill, she mildly asks Nathan where he was the previous night, and he responds, “I did what I had to do.” David attends school, where he and the other few black children in the class must sit in the back row. Early one evening, Nathan takes David and their beloved dog Sounder to hunt raccoon for dinner. But she was adamant about dramatic roles. Advanced embedding details, examples, and help ... Yvonne Jarrell ... Josie Mae Morgan sounder In 1972, she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the critically acclaimed Sounder . David feels hugely relieved to have Nathan home, but when his father tries to work the next day, he collapses in pain, then bravely carries on. Although the actress’ name is spelled “Merle Sharkey” in the onscreen credits, all contemporary sources list her as “Myrl.” Yvonne Jarrell's name is spelled "Jarrel" in the opening credits. At the trial, Nathan is sentenced to one year of hard labor at a parish prison camp. He sets off again for home, laden with books from Camille and hoping fervently to return. From his cramped cell, Nathan struggles to reach the high window for a glimpse of Rebecca, but cannot. Yvonne Jarrell Josie Mae Morgan Eric Hooks Earl Morgan Inez Durham Clerk Spencer Bradford Clarence Sylvia "Kuumba" Williams Harriet Rev. In a remarkable career of many decades, she refused to take parts that demeaned Black people and won a Tony, Emmys and an honorary Oscar. Nathan's shot misses its target, however, and although he is angry and depressed that once again there will be no meat on the family table, Rebecca responds to the news with customary composure. Ritt hired many locals to play small roles, including 12-year-old Jarrell, who played "Josie Mae," Judge William Thomas Bennett and Reverend Thomas M. Phillips, the local Baptist preacher. As noted onscreen, Sounder was based on the 1969 novella of the same name by William H. Armstrong, which won a Newberry Award in 1970. The article noted that Mattel purchased Radnitz’ stock in the company in 1974, and the agreement at that time stipulated that the film could only be sold on a cash basis. Credit... 20th Century Fox But in 1972, in a film called “Sounder,” she found what she was looking for: a leading role with dignity. Nathan's shot misses its target, however, and although he is angry and depressed that once again there will be no meat on the family table, Rebecca responds to the news with customary composure. Outside, Mrs. Boatwright tells David that she did not see the name of the labor camp, but knowing that she is lying, he turns away wordlessly. It was as Rebecca, the wife of a Louisiana sharecropper (played by Paul Winfield) who is imprisoned in 1933 for stealing food for his children. The story of a black sharecropper family's struggle in Louisiana during the depression. Later, Rebecca reminds Nathan they have been through other tough times, but he bitterly wonders why they toil ceaselessly to make Perkins richer. Vincent Canby wrote in NYT that Sounder’s appeal derived more from its superiority to most “black” films than from its inherent excellence, and called it patronizing. Then, in her only gesture of protest, she sips from a whites-only drinking fountain. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final years; as Harriet Tubman, whose Underground Railroad spirited slaves to freedom, in “A Woman Called Moses” (1978); and as a Chicago teacher devoted to poor children in “The Marva Collins Story” (1981). The Morgans, a loving and strong family of Black sharecroppers in Louisiana in 1933, face a serious family crisis when the husband and father, Nathan Lee Morgan, is convicted of a petty crime and sent to a prison camp. American Film Institute 2021 North Western Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90027-1657. Her lovely home is filled with books, and Camille inspires David with tales of notable blacks in history and the writings of intellectuals such as W. E. B. Dubois. Since the 1960s, Ms. Tyson had inspired Black American women to embrace their own standards of beauty. Over the following year, it was chosen as the American entry in several foreign film festivals, including those in Tehran, Moscow and Pakistan. Tyson starred in dozens of films including the heart is a lonely hunter, 1968, sounder, 1972, and fried green tomatoes, 1991. Here’s a guide to some of her most trailblazing and memorable performances. The kindly white woman lends David her copy of The Three Musketeers and offers to discuss it with him. She was always reticent about her age, charity work and other personal details, like being a good-will ambassador for Unicef in 1985-86 and her marriage to Miles Davis, which ended in divorce. She rises to the challenge — cleaning houses, tilling fields, sweltering under the sun in a worn dress and braided cornrows — a Black woman whose excruciating beauty lies in toil and poverty. Later, Rebecca reminds Nathan they have been through other tough times, but he bitterly wonders why they toil ceaselessly to make Perkins richer. Nathan is pleased, but David announces that he will not leave his father’s side. Unfortunately, times are so hard for the Morgans that when Nathan tries to steal a ham for his family, he is caught and sent to a labor camp. As laid out in a Nov 1972 Var article, Fox focused on group sales in major cities and targeted religious organizations and schools. Yvonne Jarrell . Do you know something about Yvonne's life? American actors (left to right) Paul Winfield (1941-2004), Yvonne Jarrell, Eric Hooks, Cicely Tyson (1924-2021) and Kevin Hooks as a family of sharecroppers talk with American blues musician Taj Mahal (right) as Ike in this publicity still from the 1972 film “Sounder,” directed by Martin Ritt.