
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, March 16, 1991                   TAG: 9103160395
SECTION: SPECTATOR                    PAGE: S-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DANIEL CERONE LOS ANGELES TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

JOSEPHINE BAKER STORY FINALLY TOLD

Josephine Baker, described by Ernest Hemingway as the most sensational woman anybody ever saw or ever will, became the sultry, controversial rage of Europe in the 1920s after leaving the United States at 19 to escape racism. When she died in her sleep at 68, she was called one of the most successful black entertainers of her time and a civil rights leader of historical stature.

America never opened its arms to Baker, and in the years since her death in 1975, Hollywood, too, has been slow to warm up to Baker as a dramatic subject, despite the undeniably dramatic events in her life.

"I think that it's been very difficult for the industry to really have a strong enough belief in who Josephine Baker was, even though they could see the vastness of her story," said Lynn Whitfield, who stars in the extravagant HBO movie "The Josephine Baker Story" airing Saturday at 8 p.m. "I mean, this is an epic life."

Whitfield says whole generations of audiences today are unfamiliar with Baker - her childhood in an old railroad boxcar, her unabashed performances in her trademark banana skirt, her status as one of the wealthiest black women in the world, her multi-ethnic "rainbow tribe" of a dozen adopted children, and her eventual financial ruin.

"You know, being a black woman in this country and knowing about people through the folklore, through the word of mouth, through the family, you understand the tragedy of anonymity in America that occurs to so many black people who have accomplished so much. Because the history books simply weren't geared to telling our stories," Whitfield said.

The critical success or failure of "The Josephine Baker Story," which co-stars David Dukes, Ruben Blades and Louis Gossett Jr., falls on Whitfield's slim shoulders. The responsibility is heavy for a relatively unknown actress who has played mainly character parts in film ("Silverado") and television (the ABC miniseries "The Women of Brewster Place").

Whitfield had to strip down in several ways to play the title role.

Physically, she had to drop her inhibitions - and her clothing - to present Baker's unabashed sexual attitude - posing nude for an artist, dancing seductively on stage wearing next to nothing and losing herself in the lusty embrace of her first husband (Blades).

Mentally, she had to let go and make herself vulnerable to the emotions that Baker embodied, which Whitfield summed up as "innocence, narcissism, heroism, self-indulgence and anger." It was partly because Whitfield made herself so vulnerable in rehearsals that she fell in love with the film's director, Brian Gibson, and married him in July, a week after shooting wrapped in Budapest.

"More than any time before in my career, there were great demands of tremendous intimacy between myself and my lead actor," said Gibson, whose credits include NBC's "Drug Wars: The Camarena Story," an Emmy winner for best miniseries last year.

When she won the role, Whitfield wanted to do Baker justice by introducing her to new American audiences. Baker gave Whitfield something lasting in return.

"Had I not done Josephine, had I not felt the real brunt of some of the decisions she made as an older woman, had I not dealt with myself, I probably wouldn't have gotten married. . . ."

by CNB