As a singer, Whitney Houston wants no introduction. As a Christmas film star, although, she could come throughout as considerably extra obscure. Regardless of this, she discovered success on that avenue of life as properly. Not solely did she star within the surprisingly good 1996 Christmas movie “The Preacher’s Spouse,” however she additionally did so reverse the good Denzel Washington, and earned loads of cash for her efforts.
A remake of the 1947 movie “The Bishop’s Spouse” (itself primarily based on the 1928 ebook of the identical title), “The Preacher’s Spouse” is a fantasy comedy-drama about Henry Biggs (Courtney B. Vance), a stressed-out reverend who’s going by means of a disaster of religion whereas his church is standing in the way in which of an actual property mogul’s (Gregory Hines) building challenge. Thankfully, an angel named Dudley (Washington) and Biggs’ spouse Julia (Houston) are there to help the preacher. Sadly, it appears that evidently the 2 are additionally falling in love. It is a Christmas film, in fact, so regardless of its potential for heartbreak, the ending is pleased — very like Houston’s checking account after she took the position. In reality, her wage for “The Preacher’s Spouse” was a formidable $10 million.
For context, this was again at a time when movie star paychecks had been ballooning throughout the business, with Jim Carrey commanding as a lot as $20 million per film. Nonetheless, when you think about that the period’s top-earning starlet, Demi Moore, was paid $12.5 million for her starring position in “Striptease,” Houston’s $10 million payday for a comparatively low-stakes vacation movie is a formidable haul by any requirements.
The Preacher’s Spouse was simply considered one of Houston’s notable roles
Whitney Houston was solely 48 years outdated when she tragically died in 2012. Due to the 2022 music biopic “Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Anyone” and the identical 12 months’s clearly Houston-inspired Netflix film “Magnificence,” she has remained a robust presence within the movie business after her dying, however “The Preacher’s Spouse” was removed from her solely noteworthy movie challenge throughout her lifetime.
Houston’s most well-known film is her performing debut, “The Bodyguard.” Although Hollywood bigwigs warned Kevin Costner in opposition to casting Houston for the 1992 romantic drama about celeb singer-actor Rachel Marron (Houston) and her ex-Secret Service bodyguard Frank Farmer (Costner), the film’s worldwide field workplace haul of $411 million in opposition to a $25 million finances speaks for itself. Aside from propelling Houston towards a fair brighter limelight than earlier than, the music-filled movie is stuffed with nice tunes that earned it two Academy Award nominations. It additionally gave Houston her signature tune, the Dolly Parton cowl “I Will All the time Love You” — although not earlier than Costner needed to defended Houston from pushback when her report label disliked the tune’s opening.
Aside from “The Bodyguard” and “The Preacher’s Spouse,” the performing leg of Houston’s profession is remembered for her position as Savannah in Forest Whitaker’s 1995 comedy-drama “Ready to Exhale.” She additionally performed the Fairy Godmother within the 1997 TV film “Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella.” Her ultimate film position was in Salim Akil’s music drama “Sparkle,” which was launched in August 2012 — only a few months after her dying.
