By Marilyn Beck and Stacy Jenel Smith
Montel Williams plans to do a biopic
on the life of Dr. Charles Drew, who pioneered the use of blood plasma
in tranfusions -- only to die from wounds suffered in a car accident after
being refused a blood transfusion at a white hospital in the "Jim Crow"
South.
"I've spoken about Dr. Drew when
speaking around the country several times, just on the irony of man's inhumanity
to man," says Williams. "I never thought anyone would ever even think about
making a movie of his life. Then I came across a couple of scripts that
were written almost 25 years ago."
Williams says he's working with Paramount
President of Programming Greg Meidel on the project, but acknowledges there
are obstacles to getting the story off the ground because, he says, of
revisionist history. "If you were to tap into information on Dr. Drew up
till '92-'93, almost everything you read talked about the atrocity of his
being taken to a hospital that refused to serve him. Now, all of a sudden,
most Websites say it's a myth that he wasn't treated. "
Williams believes, "History is being
rewritten about Dr. Drew because it's a part of America's embarrassment.
So, as crazy as it sounds, not only do we have to get the rights, we have
to go back and revalidate the story."
Meanwhile, Williams -- who's about
to resign for another round of "The Montel Williams Show" -- is out tubthumping
for his new fitness book, "BodyChange," co-written by his personal trainer,
Wini Linguvic. Williams, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1999,
says there's been such a strong response to the text about getting and
staying fit in 21 days, "several weight loss organizations have asked if
they may use 'BodyChange' as a sanctioned exercise program."
© 2001 MARILYN BECK AND STACY
JENEL SMITH