On Screen

September 28 - October 4, 2019—3 The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN The Greeneville Sun, Greeneville, TN September 28 - October 4, 2019 — 3 2 x 3.5" ad a) greene cnty farmers b) swango's 2 x 4" ad williams electric 2 x 1.5" ad ymca 2 x 1.5" ad doughty stevens By George Dickie Bumpy Johnson was the kind of man who could playfully steal the cherry from his granddaughter's sundae one minute and engage in a shootout with his would-be killer the next. In the 1960s, he was the "Godfather of Harlem" and he's the subject of a limited series debuting this week on EPIX. Premiering Sunday, Sept. 29, the so-titled 10-episode hourlong drama is inspired by the true story of crime boss Johnson (played by Oscar winner Forest Whitaker, "The Last King of Scotland"), who in the early 1960s returns from 10 years in prison to find the northern Manhat - tan neighborhood he once ruled ravaged by poverty, crime and drug addiction and under the control of the Italian mob and Genovese family chieftain Vincent "Chin" Gigante (Vincent D'Onofrio, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent"). As he engages in a power struggle to reclaim his home turf, he re- acquaints himself with the family he left behind, including wife Mayme (Ilfenesh Hadera, "Billions"), a strong woman who is not afraid to speak truth to her powerful hus - band, and daughter Elise (newcomer Antoinette Crowe-Legacy), a heroin- addicted prostitute whose life he is intent on turning around. That is, when he's not busying himself with the lucrative sale and distribution of the deadly drug himself. "I think he had really strong lines of what he thought was right and was wrong," Whitaker, seated in a quiet corner of a Beverly Hills, Calif., hotel, explains. "I think his family was precious to him and he would protect them in any way that he could. And he loved, particularly you see him with (granddaughter) Margaret, like deeply. And I think when people cross lines that he thought were wrong, he was quick and immediate to enforce judgment and punishment upon those things." Yes, he could be ruthless but he was also a smart businessman and community-minded. The premiere episode establishes his longtime friendship with Malcolm X (Nigel Thatch, "Valor"), the civil rights leader who opens Bumpy's eyes to what's happening in Harlem and in American society. "(Bumpy was) someone with a strong sense of self," says Whitaker, also an executive producer here, "who was pursuing the American dream of trying to empower himself and live a good life, past survival but into opulence. And a person who was a strategist, a person who was at times quite ruthless and a person who wanted to bring happiness to his community and stuff in the best way that he could given the job he was doing." "And it was interesting," he con - tinues, "because when you think about like a mobster that lasts a long time — because he was from the '30s all the way to 1968 — that's a long period of time to be able to be running in the mob game and selling drugs and not be harmed or killed. And he died of natural causes." Celebrity Scoop Celebrity Scoop A 1960s crime boss takes back his turf in EPIX's 'Godfather of Harlem' Cover Story Cover Story By George Dickie When it comes to on-screen smoking, "Peaky Blinders" takes a back seat to no other series, not even "Mad Men." Indeed, many of the main characters in the 1920s-set English crime drama smoke, so when the time comes to call "Action!" the atmosphere cre- ated by the clove cigarettes the actors are required to draw on is usually quite thick. And many complain about the taste. "Oh my God, if I never see another one again," says Helen McCrory, aka Shelby family treasurer Polly Gray, her voice dropping to a disgusted growl. "As props, (series star Cillian Murphy) smoked a thousand in four months. I mean, that's hideous. And yeah, they are (disgusting)." The Netflix series opens its fifth season Friday, Oct. 4, and picks up in October 1929, Checking in with Helen McCrory when the stock market crash has rocked the financial world and wiped out much of the Shelby family wealth. But Polly being Polly, she is in Monte Carlo enjoying the carnal com- pany of a young male compan- ion when the bad news comes. Immediately, her survival skills come to the fore. Full name: Helen Elizabeth McCrory Birth date: Aug. 17, 1968 Birthplace: London Family ties: Husband is actor Damian Lewis ("Billions"); they have a 13-year-old daughter and an 11-year- old son TV credits include: "Anna Karenina," "Dickens," "The Last King," "Life," "Penny Dreadful," "Doctor Who," "To Appomattox," "Mother- FatherSon," "His Dark Mate- rials" (forthcoming) Movie credits include: "In- terview With the Vampire" (1994), "Dad Savage" (1998), "Enduring Love" (2004), "Casanova" (2005), "The Queen" (2006), "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (2009), "Harry Pot- ter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1" (2010), "Harry Pot- ter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2" (2011), "Hugo" (2011), "Flying Blind" (2012), "Skyfall" (2012), "The Woman in Black 2: An- gel of Death" (2014) Stage credits include: "Uncle Vanya," "As You Like It," "Rosmersholm," "Medea," "The Last of the Haussmans" Did you know?: The daugh- ter of a diplomat, she grew up in Africa and Paris and attended an English boarding school 921 W. 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