Little Richard (film)

Little Richard is a 2000 American biographical television film written by Bill Kerby and Daniel Taplitz and directed by Robert Townsend. The film premiered on NBC on February 20, 2000. Based on the 1984 book, Quasar of Rock: The Life and Times of Little Richard, it chronicles the rise of American musical icon Little Richard from his poor upbringing in Macon, Georgia to achieving superstardom as one of the pioneers of rock and roll music and his conflicts between his religion and secular lifestyle, which leads to an early retirement following a 1957 tour of Australia, and later a comeback to secular performing during a concert in London in 1962.

Little Richard
Genre	Biography, drama
Written by	Bill Kerby Daniel Taplitz
Directed by	Robert Townsend
Starring	Leon Jenifer Lewis Carl Lumbly Tamala Jones Mel Jackson Garrett Morris
Theme music composer	Velton Ray Bunch
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Iain Peterson
Editors	Sabrina Plisco Marcelo Sansevieri
Running time	120 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	February 20, 2000 (2000-02-20)

The cast includes Leon as Little Richard Penniman,^[1] Jenifer Lewis as Richard's mother Leva Mae, or as she's listed in the movie credits, Muh Penniman, Carl Lumbly as Richard's stern father, Charles "Bud" Penniman, Tamala Jones as Richard's girlfriend Lucille^[2] (actually Audrey Robinson),^{[citation needed]} Garrett Morris as Richard's preacher Carl Rainey and Mel Jackson as producer Robert "Bumps" Blackwell.^[2]

For his role as Penniman, Leon earned nominations for Best Actor in the Black Reel Awards and the NAACP Image Awards.

Awards and nominations

• Black Reel Awards
  • Nominated (Network/Cable - Best Actor) - Leon
• NAACP Image Awards
  • Nominated (Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special) - Leon
• Emmy Awards
  • Nominated (Outstanding Music Direction) - David Sibley