Guess who else is starring in The Preacher's Wife?

Date: December 01, 1996
By Deborah Gregory

From Essence Magazine
Submitted by: Larry A.


It's the last week of shooting in New York City on the star-studded Christmas fable The Preacher's Wife, and the real magical event is the presence of two heavenly household names on one set. Our cover man, Denzel Washington, plays an angel who descends to earth to save a preacher's family, and songbird Whitney Houston plays the preacher's wife, Julia, who leads a fierce choir. But before you can say "Amen," the dynamic duo who round off the family affair take their places by the lavishly decorated Christmas tree -- outshining the ornaments as only two seasoned stage thespians can

Best known for his stunning performance as the psychotic young man who pretends to be Sidney Poitier's son in the Broadway play Six Degrees of Separation, as well as for his film roles in Panther, Tuskegee Airmen and The Piano Lesson, Courtney Vance adds a serious note to the colorful ensemble as the conflicted Reverend Biggs. Both Biggs's church and marriage are falling apart. "Biggs is at a crossroads in his life," explains the Yale-trained actor, "but he's trying to do the right thing."

Playing his steely mother-in-law, Marguerite (who flies in to "help" with the crisis), is none other than the formidable stage and screen veteran Jenifer Lewis, who parlayed a three-year national run of her one-woman show, The Diva is Dismissed, into a nonstop slew of high-profile film roles. (Actually Marguerite marks Lewis's fifth mother-knows-best role of late, following Panther, Dead Presidents, Poetic Justice and What's Love Got to Do With It.)

Dressed to the "church nines" in champagne cashmere and foxtails, Marguerite is clearly no dismissed diva. "Marguerite was a preacher's wife herself, but she has gotten a little grand," Lewis explains with a smile. "She's smoking, sipping communion wine and letting loose, and daughter Julia has a little bit too much lip for her taste. In fact, Marguerite tells her, 'If you knew so much, your marriage wouldn't be falling apart!'"

On the set, however, Houston and Lewis are having a ball. "Music is our common ground," says Lewis, who, like Houston, was raised in the church. In fact, whenever the director Penny Marshall says "Cut!" the duo break into hymns. "We've entertained ourselves for the past months singing gospel between takes."

In classic Hollywood form, all ends well in the Biggs household on Christmas Day in this gospel-filled remake of the 1947 Cary Grant and Loretta Young classic, The Bishop's Wife. "This film is about a Black family, a Black community and a whole lot of gospel music," explains Vance. "By the end of the movie, people will be jumping up and down in the aisles!"