| Remembering the forgotten man of 'All the President's Men' (spoilers) | |
| Last Edit: WaymanWong 12:34 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
| Posted by: WaymanWong 12:31 pm EST 01/13/18 | |
| In reply to: re: Steven Spielberg's 'The Post' features Broadway actors by the dozen - SidL 05:34 am EST 01/13/18 | |
|
|
|
| There's a moment in ''The Post'' in which Spielberg pays tribute to ''All the President's Men'' that calls to mind Frank Wills. Who's that? He's the black security guard, who at 24, discovered the break-in at the Watergate, which led to President Nixon's downfall. And without Wills' discovery, there would've been no story by Woodward & Bernstein, let alone the movie of ''All the President's Men.'' In the 1976 movie, Alan Pakula cast Wills to play himself; it was his sole film credit, and his fleeting moment of recognition. Sadly, this unsung hero would spend the next 2 decades often unemployed and living in poverty, caring for his mother who had had a stroke. He was convicted of stealing a pair of sneakers and sentenced to a year in prison. When his mom died in 1993, Wills was so poor that he had to donate her body to medical research because he couldn't afford to bury her. Wills died in 2000 at age 52 of a brain tumor. In ''The Post,'' Wills is played by N.Y. actor JaQwan J. Kelly, who has a GoFundMe campaign to raise $3,000 to join SAG/AFTRA. In one more indignity, Wills isn't even identified by his name in the credits; he's simply ''Watergate Security Guard.'' |
|
| Link | Washington Post: 'The Post' and the forgotten security guard who discovered the Watergate breakin |
| reply | |
|
|
|
| Previous: | re: Steven Spielberg's 'The Post' features Broadway actors by the dozen - SidL 05:34 am EST 01/13/18 |
| Next: | John Lithgow profile on CBS News - kieran 02:54 am EST 01/13/18 |
| Thread: | |
Time to render: 0.007258 seconds.