movie poster

A Lesson Before Dying

PG-13

1999

101 minutes

TV MovieDrama

Overview

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.

Top Cast

Don Cheadle headshot

Don Cheadle

Grant Wiggins

Cicely Tyson headshot

Cicely Tyson

Tante Lou

Mekhi Phifer headshot

Mekhi Phifer

Jefferson

Irma P. Hall headshot

Irma P. Hall

Miss Emma

Brent Jennings headshot

Brent Jennings

Reverend Ambrose

Lisa Arrindell headshot

Lisa Arrindell

Vivian Baptiste

Dana Ivey headshot

Dana Ivey

Edna Guidry

Frank Hoyt Taylor headshot

Frank Hoyt Taylor

Sheriff Guidry

Stuart Culpepper headshot

Stuart Culpepper

Henri Pichot

Von Coulter headshot

Von Coulter

Farrell Jarreau

Elijah Kelley headshot

Elijah Kelley

Clarence

Wynton Yates headshot

Wynton Yates

Louis Washington

Patty Mack headshot

Patty Mack

Inez