The Preacher's Wife (1996) on Netflix
Reverend Henry Biggs pastors a Baptist church in a New York City neighborhood that developer Joe Hamilton wants to buy. His marriage strained, Henry prays for help. An angel, Dudley, arrives.
- Netflix3.3/5
- IMDb5.8/1015,241 votes
- Rotten Tomatoes60%
Trailer
Plot summary
Reverend Henry Biggs leads a small Baptist congregation in a poor New York City neighborhood. Membership is falling, money is short, and the needs of his parishioners keep him away from his wife Julia and their son Jeremiah. Developer Joe Hamilton presses Henry to sell the church land for luxury condominiums. Julia fears the marriage is coming apart, and Henry, doubting he can help anyone, prays for guidance. The answer is Dudley, an angel who says God sent him. Henry distrusts him at once, while Julia is charmed by the newcomer. Henry's secretary Beverly believes Dudley has come for her job, and Julia's mother Margueritte suspects him too.
Cast
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- While filming exteriors and interiors at a church and parsonage in Yonkers, New York, a building a block away caught fire and two children died; one crew member rushed a ladder from the production to the burning building and saved the life of a four-year-old child.
- The weekend before filming began at the church, an elderly parishioner fell, broke her hip and died, and in the middle of filming a crew member was struck by a car and killed.
- Denzel Washington says he first considered Julia Roberts for the role but quickly turned to Whitney Houston, who was reluctant to accept, feeling she could not do justice to playing a dowdy housewife, and agreed only after a second reading revealed parallels with her own life.
- Whitney Houston was paid $10 million to appear in the film, making her the highest paid black actress at the time and the third highest paid film actress of 1996.
- The Preacher's Wife is the best-selling gospel album of all time, and it remained at number one for a record twenty-six weeks on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums Chart.
- Later the cast and crew moved to Portland, Maine, for scenes at an ice skating rink, but unseasonably warm weather turned the ice to water and forced the production to rent snow-making machines.
