Wendell Pierce

in the Double V campaign in the Black community, victory abroad and victory at home.

So he very much believed in that.

When this play was written, a young man...

came from New Orleans to be a photographer.

He decided to go home and raise his three boys in New Orleans, one of which is me.

He fought for this country and loved it when it didn't love him back.

But he gave me the most precious thing ever, love

And time.

And that was the timepiece pocket watch from the play.

that you see Willie Loman receive from his brother.

And I had presented it to him.

And I knew in that moment, it was probably the last time he would ever see me on stage.

And I just wanted to honor him.

He was...

Oh, man.

I went to a very good school, a very great college preparatory school.

Ben Franklin is the number one high school in Louisiana.

And it's, you know, all these great national merit scholars and people with scholarships and going to the Ivy Leagues and great careers.

And he just, when I decided early on, in the middle of that, I wanted to be an actor at 14, going to

This other great school, the New Orleans Center for Creative Arts, had the best of both worlds.