Mr. Soul! - Cast

Mr. Soul! (2018)
104 min | Documentary

Mr. Soul! (2018)

104 min | Documentary

Before Oprah, before Arsenio, there was Mr. SOUL. Ellis Haizlip ensures that the Revolution would be televised with "SOUL!," America's first "Black Tonight Show." From 1968 to 1973, the public-television variety show SOUL!, guided by ...See moreBefore Oprah, before Arsenio, there was Mr. SOUL. Ellis Haizlip ensures that the Revolution would be televised with "SOUL!," America's first "Black Tonight Show." From 1968 to 1973, the public-television variety show SOUL!, guided by enigmatic producer and host Ellis Haizlip, offered an unfiltered, uncompromising celebration of Black literature, poetry, music, and politics--voices that had few other options for national exposure, and, as a result, found the program an improbable place to call home. The series was among the first to provide expanded images of African Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement. With participants' recollections and illuminating archival clips, Mr. SOUL captures a critical moment in culture whose impact continues to resonate, and an unsung hero whose voice we need now more than ever, to restore the SOUL of a nation. Written by Melissa Haizlip See less

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Cast	+ Add Cast
60 cast members

Name	Known for
Sidney Poitier Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	In the Heat of the Night (1967)
Michael Jackson Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Michael Jackson: Thriller (1983)
Diahann Carroll Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Julia (1968)
Blair Underwood Narration (voice) Narration (voice) See fewer	Deep Impact (1998)
Anna Maria Horsford Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Minority Report (2002)
Obba Babatundé Self Self See fewer	Life (I) (1999)
Roxie Roker Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Jeffersons (1975)
Harry Belafonte Self Self See fewer	Bobby (I) (2006)
Arsenio Hall Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Coming to America (1988)
Muhammad Ali Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Greatest (1977)
Patti LaBelle Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Miami Vice (2006)
Stevie Wonder Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Wild Wild West (1999)
Gladys Knight Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Hollywood Homicide (2003)
Melba Moore Self Self See fewer	All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989)
Maya Angelou Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Poetic Justice (1993)
Questlove Self (as Questlove Gomez) Self (as Questlove Gomez) See fewer	Summer of Soul (...Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) (2021)
Bill Withers Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Bodyguard (1992)
James Baldwin Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	I Am Not Your Negro (2016)
B.B. King Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Blues Brothers 2000 (1998)
Novella Nelson Self Self See fewer	A Walk Among the Tombstones (2014)
Malcolm X Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Malcolm X (1992)
Martin Luther King Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Freedom Writers (2007)
Stan Lathan Self Self See fewer	Real Husbands of Hollywood (2013)
Carmen De Lavallade Self Self See fewer	Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Al Green Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Scrooged (1988)
Angela Davis Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Untitled Angela Davis Project
Earth Wind & Fire Themselves (archive footage) Themselves (archive footage) See fewer	Ready Player One (2018)
Loretta Long Self Self See fewer	Follow That Bird (1985)
Donny Hathaway Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Two Weeks Notice (2002)
Nona Hendryx Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
Amiri Baraka Self Self See fewer	Bulworth (1998)
Alvin Ailey Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Turning Point (1977)
Stokely Carmichael Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Black Power Mixtape 1967-1975 (2011)
Hugh Masekela Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
Kathleen Cleaver Self Self See fewer	Zabriskie Point (1970)
Nikki Giovanni Self Self See fewer	Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project (2023)
Judith Jamison Self Self See fewer	Great Performances (1971)
Ashford & Simpson Themselves Themselves See fewer	The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005)
Sarah Dash Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978)
Felipe Luciano Self Self See fewer	It Could Happen to You (1994)
Thomas Allen Harris Self Self See fewer	That's My Face (2001)
Billy Taylor Self Self See fewer	Mr. Church (2016)
Sonia Sanchez Self Self See fewer	Lovecraft Country (2020)
Louis J. Massiah Self Self See fewer	Eyes on the Prize (1987)
Ellis Haizlip Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Watch Your Mouth (1978)
The Last Poets Themselves Themselves See fewer	Poetic Justice (1993)
Robert J. Thompson Self - Professor and TV Historian Syracuse University Self - Professor and TV Historian Syracuse University See fewer	Up Front Tonight (1998)
George Faison Self Self See fewer	The Cotton Club (1984)
Rahsaan Roland Kirk Self (archive footage) Self (archive footage) See fewer	Licorice Pizza (2021)
Kevin Powell Self Self See fewer	Hip-Hop Evolution (2016)
Sade Lythcott Self Self See fewer	Unsung Presents: Best in Black (2023)
Sarah Lewis Self Self See fewer	Black Art: In the Absence of Light (2021)
Greg Tate Self Self See fewer	Wayne Shorter: Zero Gravity (2023)
Russell Patterson Self Self See fewer	30 Years Behind the Mic: Maurice the VOICE Watts (2013)
Leroy Burgess Self Self See fewer	Monster (V) (2014)
Christopher Lukas Self Self See fewer	The Antibody (2012)
Alvin F. Poussaint Self Self See fewer	The Cosby Show (1984)
Chester Higgins Jr. Self (as Chester Higgins Jr) Self (as Chester Higgins Jr) See fewer	The Great Egyptians (1998)
Sylvia Waters Self Self See fewer	Heart Strings (2024)
Stuart Bascombe Self Self See fewer	Soul! (1968)