The first time I met Roger Guenveur Smith in person he told me that we are connected. As Smith is one of my absolute favorite artisans of acting, this was a thrilling thing to hear.
Roger Guenveur Smith as Smiley in Do the Right Thing
At the same time, this connection was not news to me.
The one college film paper that I can remember giving my all to was on School Daze, which happened to be the Yale Drama School grad’s first film. As Smith explains in our far-too-brief conversation, the 1986 Spike Lee musical is a rich cinematic text as well as a historic trove of talent, both in front of and behind the camera.
If School Daze and Do the Right Thing made me see the Berkeley-born Smith as a thespian to look out for, it was A Huey P. Newton Story that got me considering dude an all-timer. In terms of historical figures portrayed on film, Lee’s take on Smith’s fantastically-written one-man show lands its star with Ben Kingsley’s Mahatma Gandhi and Robert Downey’s Charlie Chaplin in my Indelible Biographical Portrayal Hall of Fame.
In our Sojourn conversation, my guest and I talk a disproportionate amount about baseball, and on this occasion it is not my fault.
My guest is the father of three baseball-playing children. Also, he’s the one who wrote Juan and John. Roger’s relationship to Johnny Roseboro and Juan Marichal and the worst pre-Malice-at-the-Palace American sports brawl is almost literally unbelievable. The expression you see come across my face when Sandy Koufax makes an appearance is the look of me trying not to soil myself.
(Fun fact: I met the photographer who took this immortal 1965 photo, the ubiquitous Neil Leifer.)
That’s enough hype. This is a great conversation with a celebrated talent who continues to make meaningful work. (Till, Self-Made)
From left: Guy Killum, Kirk Taylor. Roger Guenveur Smith, and Kevin Rock
The Sojourn is my version of journalism busking. Yearning to tip your reporter? Go for it!
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