A Lesson Before Dying

1h 41min

Drama

In the 1940s South, an African-American man is wrongly accused of the killing a a white store owner. In his defense, his white attorney equates him with a lowly hog, to indicate that he didn't have the sense to know what he was doing. Nevertheless convicted, he is sentenced to die, but his godmother and the aunt of the local schoolteacher convince school teacher go to the convicted man's cell each day to try to reaffirm to him that he is not an animal but a man with dignity.

Production Companies

Spanky Pictures

Ellen M. Krass Productions

HBO Films

Cast

Don Cheadle

Don Cheadle

Grant Wiggins
Cicely Tyson

Cicely Tyson

Tante Lou
Mekhi Phifer

Mekhi Phifer

Jefferson
Irma P. Hall

Irma P. Hall

Miss Emma
Brent Jennings

Brent Jennings

Reverend Ambrose
Lisa Arrindell

Lisa Arrindell

Vivian Baptiste
Dana Ivey

Dana Ivey

Edna Guidry
Frank Hoyt Taylor

Frank Hoyt Taylor

Sheriff Guidry
Stuart Culpepper

Stuart Culpepper

Henri Pichot
Von Coulter

Von Coulter

Farrell Jarreau
Wynton Yates

Wynton Yates

Louis Washington

Release date

22nd May 1999

Status

Released

Spoken languages

English