Thanksgiving fit for a Queen

One thing for sure about Angela Bassett; she is a thankful person. She's a woman who, during the My Black is Beautiful panel discussion back in 2008 proclaimed, "My Black is Grateful." It's one of the reasons why when receiving an award Angela, in all her humility, is the first to mention her fellow nominees or her co-stars that she worked with during filming. As gracious as Angela is, the Thanksgiving holiday must be especially meaningful.

This year Angela and Courtney are sending out holiday cards and called up one of their good friends Matthew Jordan Smith, who happens to be a celebrity photographer, to photograph them for the occasion. Matthew even graced us with a blog about the all day shoot:

Photo by: Matthew Jordan Smith

Bringing ideas to life can be a challenge but it is also a lot of fun. A month ago I got a call from two good friends who wanted me to photograph them for a holiday card. They had no idea of what they wanted and asked if I had any cool idea's. I jumped at the opportunity and my girlfriend and I talked about ideas. After we decided on the idea to present she put a pdf presentation together to send them and they loved it right away.

My friends are Angela Bassett and her husband Courtney Vance and my idea was to bring old famous paintings to life but with a modern twist. I told them my idea would take a full day of shooting and after working through our schedule we finally made it happen today. The day started by shooting at my place at 8:30 a.m. and working until noon, then the entire crew changed locations and went to their house and worked until 8:00 p.m. this evening. It was a very long day but an extremely fun day for everyone involved. I am so excited about the images I can't wait to edit. That said it's time for me to start the editing process now.

Source: [MatthewJordanSmith.blogspot.com]

Photo by: Terrell Mullin

Photo by: Terrell Mullin

Terrell Mullin, was Angela's make up artist for the shoot and he found time to tweet this last night:

@Kalefe: On set with the stunning Angela Bassett ,,, can u say Drop Dead Gorgeous !!!!

This Thanksgiving, remember Angela is coming back with a vengeance in 2011 (two films and a series strong). So when someone asks you what you're thankful for, turn to them and say, "the Queen is back." Happy Thanksgiving, BassettHounds!

Angela Bassett's Back...and so are we!

We, here at Angie B News, are coming out of blogging hiatus and with good reason. It's been over a year since Angela Bassett finished the final season of ER and even longer since we last updated you with any Angie B News, but we all go through our slumps and only something big can bring us out of it. Remember Bernadine in Waiting to Exhale, sulking around her house before she took a cigarette and gasoline to the BMW? Yes, of course you do.


Plenty has happened this past year: two of the BassettHounds met and talked with the Queen herself and let's just say we're even more in awe of her in person.

Simonique and Natacia with Angela (Jan 2010)

Angela filmed two movies that kept her busy through summer, the Green Lantern and Jumping the Broom, respectively (more on those later). We've even stayed current and opened a new twitter and facebook page for Angie B fans to connect but, like I said, only something big could bring us out of the blogging slump that we always experience every time Angela takes a break from us. Courtney and the twins have had her all to themselves for the past year but now we get to have a little bit of Angie, for one hour each week, in fact.

Angela Bassett to star in ABC's cop drama, "One Police Plaza"

Actress Angela Bassett has signed on to star in a cop drama for ABC.

Bassett is set to star in "One Police Plaza," an hour-long in development from "Criminal Minds"/ "Grey's Anatomy" exec producer Mark Gordon.

Should the drama go forward, Bassett would star as the first-ever female New York police commissioner. Project had already been set up at the Alphabet net (Daily Variety, Nov. 2), but the deal with Bassett has just now been finalized.

Crime novelist Linda Fairstein and Kenneth Solarz ("CSI: NY") are writing and exec producing the show. Gordon will also exec produce with his production partner Deb Spera.

"One Police Plaza" -- the name of the NYPD's headquarters, near City Hall -- would rep the first series role for Bassett since the final season of "ER," where she played chief of emergency medicine Dr. Catherine Banfield.

Source: [Variety.com]

I'm personally very proud of Angela for making the huge commitment to a television series. As the leading lady of One Police Plaza, Angela is going to be carrying her own series and in some ways the success of the show is dependent on her. Angela Bassett will be to One Police Plaza what Glenn Close is to Damages, what Kyra Sedgwick is to The Closer, or what, I hate to say it, Holly Hunter was to Saving Grace.

Ultimately, this a project worthy of her talent, worthy of her return; blog worthy, even.