Mahalia Jackson - in Popular Culture

In Popular Culture

• She appears in the 1960 film, Jazz on a Summer's Day – an artistic documentary filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival. She sings three gospel numbers at the end of the film, including "The Lord's Prayer".
• In the 1958 movie St. Louis Blues, she played the character Bessie May and sang in the church choir.
• In the movie Jungle Fever, the character played by Ossie Davis tries to distract himself from his son Gator's (Samuel L. Jackson) crack cocaine addiction by listening to Mahalia Jackson albums by the hour.
• In the 1959 film Imitation of Life, Mahalia Jackson portrays the choir soloist, singing "Trouble of the World" at Annie's funeral. She has no speaking lines, but her singing performance highlights the climactic scene.
• In the 1964 Film The Best Man, Mahalia plays herself, singing at a Democratic Covention in a two-minute clip.
• Duke Ellington, with whom she occasionally recorded, paid tribute to her on his New Orleans Suite album with the song "Portrait of Mahalia Jackson".