


Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

Forest Whitaker
Cecil Gaines

Oprah Winfrey
Gloria Gaines

David Oyelowo
Louis Gaines

John Cusack
Richard Nixon

Jane Fonda
Nancy Reagan

Cuba Gooding Jr.
Carter Wilson

Mariah Carey
Hattie Pearl

Terrence Howard
Howard

Lenny Kravitz
James Holloway

Aml Ameen
Cecil Gaines (15)

Michael Rainey Jr.
Cecil Gaines (8)

James Marsden
John F. Kennedy

Alex Pettyfer
Thomas Westfall

Vanessa Redgrave
Annabeth Westfall

Alan Rickman
Ronald Reagan

Liev Schreiber
Lyndon B. Johnson

Robin Williams
Dwight Eisenhower

Yaya DaCosta
Carol Hammie

David Banner
Earl Gaines

Colman Domingo
Freddie Fallows
Lee Daniels
Danny Strong
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