Trailer
Plot summary
Ray Charles Robinson grows up poor in Florida, the son of Aretha, and learns piano as a small boy. An accident takes the life of his younger brother, George, and by the age of seven Ray is blind. Aretha teaches him to get by on his own and sends him to a school for deaf and blind children. He joins a white country band and wears sunglasses. Later he travels to Seattle and plays in a nightclub band.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about Ray (2004)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- Financier Philip Anschutz agreed to pay for the film only on condition that it be rated PG-13, a demand that made director Taylor Hackford walk away twice; he agreed in the end because Charles and Ahmet Ertegun asked him to make the movie.
- Director Taylor Hackford originally planned to use a stunt double for the piano scenes, until he discovered Jamie Foxx had actually attended college on a classical piano scholarship.
SPOILER
The film shows Georgia's legislature lifting a lifetime ban on Ray Charles performing there and Charles being reunited with wife Della when "Georgia on My Mind" becomes the state song, but in reality Charles had never actually been banned from the state and he and Della had already divorced by 1979, so no such resolution or reunion ever happened.- For the role, Jamie Foxx wore prosthetics that covered his eyes, which meant he shot the majority of the film unable to see anything at all.
- Ray Charles died of liver disease in June 2004, four months before the film's October premiere, having planned to attend a screening of the finished movie, which is dedicated to his memory.
- In the wake of his performance, Jamie Foxx featured on hip-hop songs that sampled Charles' own records: Kanye West's "Gold Digger", which samples "I Got a Woman", and Ludacris' "Georgia" with Field Mob, which samples "Georgia on My Mind".
- Director Taylor Hackford said it took 15 years just to secure financing for the film before it could be made.
SPOILER
The film shows Margie Hendricks dying in 1964 of a drug overdose. In reality she died on July 14, 1973, and no official cause of death was ever determined, because no autopsy was performed.
