Ray

Jamie Foxx won an Oscar for his extraordinary performance as Ray Charles, in a film that revived the potency of the musical biopic.

The extraordinary life of blind R&B pianist Ray Charles is realised with a stunning performance from Jamie Foxx, who won an unprecedented five major acting awards for his efforts (Oscar, Bafta, Golden Globe, SAG and Critics’ Choice).

A labour of love for director Taylor Hackford, it took him over fifteen years to raise the funding for a film that was rewarded with widespread acclaim. Suitably epic in scope at 2 ½ hours in length, and covering all aspects of Ray’s rich and remarkable life, Hackford and James L. White’s script also refuses to pull any punches, covering in detail the pianist’s various addictions, infidelities and other personal tragedies. Despite this, the film received the real Ray’s full backing, although he sadly died mere months before its premiere. Ray nevertheless breathed new life into the musical biopic, leading to warts ‘n’ all accounts of further 20th-century musical icons such as Johnny Cash, Miles Davis and Hank Marvin.