James L. White (November 15, 1947 – July 23, 2015) was an American screenwriter best known for his original screenplay for the 2004 film '' Ray'', a biopic on

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

. For his work on ''Ray'', White received the

Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay The Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay is an annual award given by the International Press Academy The International Press Academy (IPA) is an American association of professional entertainment journalists, representing both domestic ...

and a

BAFTA Award The British Academy Film Awards, more commonly known as the BAFTA Film Awards is an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to honour the best British and international contributions to film. The cer ...

nomination for

Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Beginning with the ...

. White was born on November 15, 1947, in Mount Sterling, Kentucky. He was raised by his single mother in Mount Sterling, approximately 35 miles east of Lexington. A love of reading led White to pursue a career as a writer. He served in the

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage o ...

before enrolling at the

University of Massachusetts The University of Massachusetts is the five-campus public university system and the only public research system in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The university system includes five campuses (Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth, Lowell, and a medical ...

. He left the university after a year and worked a series of jobs in the Boston area. He moved to Los Angeles during the 1970s to pursue screenwriting. White credited his friend, actor Sidney Poitier, with helping in get his first screenwriting job. Poitier hired White to 1992 to write the screenplay for a thriller called ''Red Money''. The film was never made, but it marked White's breakthrough into screenwriting after decades of attempts. In a 2005 award acceptance speech before the Friends of the Black Oscar Nominees group, White thanked Poitier: "I would like to publicly thank Mr. Poitier, who was the first person in Hollywood to take a chance on me as a screenwriter." White was working on two screenplays at the time of his death in 2015 – a biopic on

Bessie Smith Bessie Smith (April 15, 1894 – September 26, 1937) was an American blues singer widely renowned during the Jazz Age. Nicknamed the " Empress of the Blues", she was the most popular female blues singer of the 1930s. Inducted into the Rock a ...

titled ''Empress of the Blues'', and a film focusing on

Dinah Washington Dinah Washington (born Ruth Lee Jones; August 29, 1924 – December 14, 1963) was an American singer and pianist, who has been cited as "the most popular black female recording artist of the 1950s songs". Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performe ...

, which is in pre-production. James L. White died from complications of liver and pancreatic cancer at his home in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing t ...

, on July 23, 2015, at the age of 67. He was survived by his wife, Elizabeth, two daughters and a son.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, James L. 1947 births 2015 deaths 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American writers 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American screenwriters 21st-century African-American writers 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American screenwriters African-American screenwriters African-American United States Navy personnel American male screenwriters Deaths from cancer in California Deaths from liver cancer Deaths from pancreatic cancer Military personnel from Kentucky People from Mount Sterling, Kentucky Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Kentucky United States Navy sailors University of Massachusetts alumni Writers from Santa Monica, California