The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 5, Ed. 1, Friday, September 7, 1990 Page: 3 of 8
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FrkJty Sptmbr 7 1990
Native
actor gets noticed
NEW YORK (AP) A burly
good-natured Texan soft-spoken
and a little shy Forest Whitaker
doesn't exactly stand out in a
crowd.
But in Hollywood where
unemployment is the rule not the
exception he does OK.
Wliitakcr has been one of the kids
ki "Fast Times at Ridg cmont.
High" the dude who pool-hustled
Paul Newman in "The Color of
Money" a rock-steady "Platoon"
grunt and Robin Williams'
sidekick in "Good Morning
Vietnam."
Two years ago he got a best-
actor award at the Cannes Film
Festival as the tortured modem jazz
pioneer Charlie Parker in Clint
Eastwood's "Bird."
There was no Oscar nomination
but many good reviews which
tided him over.
"I guess the reward is to be
appreciated for your work"
Whkakersays.
On Saturday he's in a Home Box
Office movie "Criminal Justice"
as a fundamentally decent ex-con
trying to stay straight but wrongly
accused of slashing and robbing a
crack-addicted prostitute in
Brooklyn.
It is a horrifying trip through
what singer Tom Waits once called
"the bowels of due process."
Whitaker a methodical man
researched it before and while
making the film in Pittsburgh five
months ago.
He hung out in the courts and in
prison observing listening to
prisoners talking with their
families trying to make bail. He
Tribal violence
continues in
South Africa
JOHANNESBURG South Africa
(AP) At least 30 blacks were
killed in savage township fighting
including 11 who died when
soldiers fired assault rifles
Wednesday on a crowd at a migrant
workers' hostel police said.
The latest violence came as
President F.W. de Klerk and
African National Congress leader
Nelson Mandela toured the
townships to call for an end to the
black factional fighting that has
claimed more than 550 lives in the
past three weeks.
The worst fighting occurred in
Sebokeng south of Johannesburg
where police said they entered a
migrant workers hostel to
investigate the deaths of four men
believed to be township residents
abducted by the hostel dwellers
An armed mob of up to 5000
gathered outside the hostel saying
they wanted to launch a revenge
attack on Zulus inside police said.
' ' -.
even did a little rime behind bars
he said trying to get the moves the
look right.
A lot of prisoners didn't know
who he was. Those who did he
said would say things like "Well
what are YOU doing here? What
did YOU do?"
But it was similar m a way he
said to the time he hung out with
people in the medical profession
taking notes for the plastic surgeon
he played in die film "Johnny
Handsome."
"The people are sometimes
pretty helpful" he said. "Because
they want their stories to be told
properly."
Whitaker has been lucky enough
to work fairly often since "Fast
Times" in 1982.
He once planned to sing opera
but switched to theater while in
college. But his musical
background has helped notably in
"Bird."
He didn't actually play the alto
sax heard in the film but he
learned enough to fake it then to
get sounds from it and then ...
music.
But until recently he hadn't
touched the horn. The.reason: He
was too deeply affected by what
he'd gone through portraying
Parker a junkie genius who died in
1955 at age 34.
"When I played the horn it
reminded me of a lot of emotions
that I was dealing with when I
played the part" said Whitaker.
"So I avoided playing for a while.
... It took a while to wash it off to
get rid of it."
The actor also has been having a
When the mob refused to
disperse army troops were called
in and a "shooting incident
occurred" said police Col. Frans
Malherbe. He said 11 bodies were
found after the mob dispersed.
Malherbe said both the police and
military were investigating the
shooting.
Police said a total of 20 people
were killed in various incidents in
Sebokeng. Police and witnesses
reported 10 more deaths overnight
in Vosloorus and Katlehong
southeast of Johannesburg.
Police also said they arrested 150
men in connection with the earlier
violence in the hostel and
confiscated four AK47 assault
rifles.
Mandela visited Sebokeng
Wednesday to call for peace
A reporter following Mandela
into the township Lew Ellas said
his own vehicle was stoned
overturned and set alight. Ellas
Features
lexan
?
go at writing putting together liis
first screenplay "Pick a Card"
over the course of seven years. It's
a comedy about a con man and a
three-card monte dealer who works
the streets.
There's no deal for that yet and
none is imminent he said.
Two weeks after making
"Criminal Justice" he proceeded
to yet another new role this one in
a film comedy "Rage in Harlem."
In that one due out next year he
co-stars with Danny Olover and
Gregory Hines playing a
mottician's accountant.
He also at 29 is making his
debut as a co-producer having
served in that capacity on "Rage."
He laughed when asked if
Whitaker the actor ever argued
with Whitaker the producer.
No he said but he's now a bit
more sympathetic to producers.
"They have to think about stuff I
never would think about before"
he said "things I would just ignore
and say 'Well I'm an actor.' "
' He knows that for an actor.to be
sympathetic towards producers
constitutes heresy in some quarters.
"Yeah but they have a pretty
difficult job sometimes" he said.
But as long as you re working arv
toward the same goal it works "
out."
ByJAYSHARBUTT
APTelevision Writer
"I
f
suffered only minor injuries.
In -Vosloorus southeast of
Johannesburg witnesses said Zulus
loyal to the conservative Inkatha
movement.stoned houses and set
them alight Monday night. A
similar attack was reported in
neighboring Katlehong. Police and !
witnesses reported 10 deaths in the
two townships.
In renewed clashes in Vosloorus
Zulus from a workers' hostel
used axes spears shovels and other
weapons to attack houses.
Township residents some with gas
bombs tried a counterattack on the
ltostcl but police repeatedly fired
tear gas and shotguns to keep the
two sides apart. Some women
packed their children and
belongings in trucks and fled the
area.
Much of the recent fighting has
pitted Inkatha-supporttng Zulus
living in the hostels against blacks
in tlte townsliips who back the
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African National Congress the
country's largest opposition
movement.
De Klerk mcanwliile was
mobbed by youtlis and greeted with
cries of " Vjva de Klerk" as he
toured die huge Soweto township
outside Johannesburg.
Afterward de Klerk told a news
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see ... circumstances which ore
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De Klerk says the government
wants to provide family housing fon
all blacks but the current housing
shortage makes it impractical to
tear down existing hostels for
single working men.
ByGREGMYRE
Associated Press Writer
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The Optimist (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 79, No. 5, Ed. 1, Friday, September 7, 1990, newspaper, September 7, 1990; Abilene, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth96198/m1/3/: accessed May 2, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Abilene Christian University Library.