Almost 20 years after the Whoopi Goldberg hit film “Sister Act” debuted in theaters, Walt Disney Co. and Sony Pictures are being sued by a woman who claims her life story was stolen for the film.
The woman Delois Blakely, was a “young, Black, singing nun serving the street people and youths of Harlem,” who published the autobiography, The Harlem Street Nun in 1987. She reached out to others in the industry with a three-page synopsis of her story, including Tri Star Pictures producer Cynthia Bowles. The film executive apparently mailed a letter back expressing interest in movie rights.
According to the claims, producer Scott Rudin took a Sister Act project from Tri-Star to Disney and went on to executive produce a film that made more than $230 million at the box office, as well as producing a sequel and a Broadway musical. The studios declined to comment.
Blakely, who was profiled in the New York Times in 2003 as Harlem’s Queen Mother, is now demanding an injunction against further violation of her publicity rights and more!
