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Henry A. Wallace Biopic Reveals a Man Far Ahead of His Time
Washington, DC, April 2010 – A new film by Joan D. Murray and VideoTakes, Inc., Henry A. Wallace: An Uncommon Man, depicts a brilliant farmer, scientist, writer, and public servant whose stand on race, poverty and peace put him far ahead of his time.
Born into a family of prominent Iowa farmers, Wallace founded the world’s first hybrid seed company, Pioneer, and catalyzed the 20th Century’s “Green Revolution” in agriculture. Wallace also served as Agriculture Secretary and Vice President under Franklin D. Roosevelt during some of the most trying times in American history: the Great Depression and World War II.
Few people know that Henry A. Wallace was the overwhelming choice of delegates to the 1944 Democratic National Convention to once again be FDR’s vice president. If the delegates had their way, Wallace would have succeeded FDR to become the 33rd president of the United States. But party bosses, encouraged by Southern conservatives, made sure that didn’t happen.
In this unique film, Henry Wallace is defined in his own words, with additional insights provided by former U.S. Senator John Culver and the late John Hyde who wrote American Dreamer: A Life of Henry A. Wallace; Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute; Wes Jackson, president of the Land Institute, and David Woolner, Senior Vice President of the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute.
The film was conceived and directed by Joan D. Murray, Wallace’s granddaughter; written and produced by Sandy Cannon-Brown and Dan Gallagher, and edited by Matt Nagy, Dan Gallagher and Olivia Yeo. Wayne Westbrook was the primary director of photography. Andrea Bloom provided primary archival research. Dan Toohey narrated and Jeff Cook provided the voice of Wallace.