Known for Acting
Novella Christine Nelson (December 17, 1939 – August 31, 2017) was an American actress and singer. She established her career as a singer, both on the off-Broadway and Broadway stage and in cabaret-style locales.
Born
December 17, 1939
Died
August 31, 2017 (age 77)
Birthplace
Brooklyn, New York, USA
Filmography
44 films, 16 shows
Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project
2023 · 1h 42m
country: United States
Intimate vérité, archival footage, and visually innovative treatments of poetry take us on a journey through the dreamscape of legendary queer poet Nikki Giovanni as she reflects on her life and legacy.
Mr. SOUL!
2018 · 1h 30m
country: Unknown
On the heels of the Civil Rights Movement, one fearless black pioneer reconceived a Harlem Renaissance for a new era, ushering giants and rising stars of black American culture onto the national television stage. He was hip. He was smart. He was innovative, political, and gay. In his personal fight for social equality, this man ensured the Revolution would be televised. The man was Ellis Haizlip. The Revolution was soul!
You Were Never Really Here
2017 · 1h 29m
country: United Kingdom
A traumatized veteran, unafraid of violence, tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered—leading to what may be his death trip or his awakening.
A Walk Among the Tombstones
2014 · 1h 54m
country: United States
Private investigator Matthew Scudder is hired by a drug kingpin to find out who kidnapped and murdered his wife.
Nancy, Please
2012 · 1h 24m
country: United States
A graduate student's vengeful ex-roommate refuses to let him retrieve an important book that he needs for his dissertation on Charles Dickens.
The Ten
2007 · 1h 36m
country: United States
Ten stories, each inspired by one of the ten commandments.
Stephanie Daley
2007 · 1h 32m
country: Unknown
Stephanie collapses in a pool of blood while on a school skiing trip. A doctor discovers that the blood is the after-effects of giving birth. Soon afterward, the body of a newborn baby is found in a toilet, its mouth blocked with toilet paper. Despite Stephanie's insistence that her child was stillborn and that she had no idea that she was pregnant, she is arrested for the murder of the child.
Griffin & Phoenix
2006 · 1h 42m
country: United States
A terminally ill man falls in love with a woman who has a secret that threatens their time spent together.
Premium
2006 · 1h 37m
country: United States
Reginald "Cool" Coolidge is a struggling actor, fed up with taking stereotypical African American roles and waiting for his big break in a legitimate production. Until this time comes, he works at his mother's boyfriend's gas station to repay him for covering his college tuition. One day at the station, his ex-fiancé - and one true love - reappears at the pumps after 3 years of silence. Cool discovers that it is 36 hours until her wedding to a local lawyer. As Cool embarks on last-ditch attempts to win her back, he takes on the biggest "role" of his life while also learning the secret to mastering his craft.
Preaching to the Choir
2005 · 1h 45m
country: United States
Estranged since the death of their parents years ago, twin brothers Teshawn and Wesley Tucker have taken radically different paths in life. Wes has become a minister in a Harlem gospel church while Te perpetrates the gangster lifestyle as hip-hop star Zulu. They are forced into reconciliation when Te flees from LA to his childhood home in Harlem to hide from his enraged record producer, Bull Sharky. As Bull Sharky and his posse move east tracking Te down, Te and Wes must confront their own demons and attempt to work out their differences.
Dear Wendy
2005 · 1h 45m
country: Denmark
In a blue-collar American town, a group of teens bands together to form the Dandies, a gang of gunslingers led by Dick Dandelion. Following a code of strict pacifism at odds with the fact that they all carry guns, the group eventually lets in Sebastian, the grandson of Dick's childhood nanny, Clarabelle, who fears the other gangs in the area. Dick and company try to protect Clarabelle, but events transpire that push the gang past posturing.
Birth
2004 · 1h 40m
country: Germany
It took Anna 10 years to recover from the death of her husband, Sean, but now she's on the verge of marrying her boyfriend, Joseph, and finally moving on. However, on the night of her engagement party, a young boy named Sean turns up, saying he is her dead husband reincarnated. At first she ignores the child, but his knowledge of her former husband's life is uncanny, leading her to believe that he might be telling the truth.
Head of State
2003 · 1h 35m
country: United States
When a presidential candidate dies unexpectedly in the middle of the campaign, the Democratic party unexpectedly picks a Washington, D.C. alderman as his replacement.
Antwone Fisher
2002 · 2h
country: United States
A sailor prone to violent outbursts is sent to a naval psychiatrist for help. Refusing at first to open up, the young man eventually breaks down and reveals a horrific childhood. Through the guidance of his doctor, he confronts his painful past and begins a quest to find the family he never knew.
The Gilded Six Bits
2001 · 29m
country: Unknown
The lives of a loving husband and wife collide with that of a wealthy hustler.
Judy Berlin
1999 · 1h 33m
country: United States
Judy Berlin is an aspiring actress whose idealism is at odds with her small suburban community, where a solar eclipse induces town inhabitants (a lonely housewife, a frustrated schoolteacher, and a struggling filmmaker) to search for solace and understanding in themselves and one another.
A Perfect Murder
1998 · 1h 47m
country: United States
Millionaire industrialist Steven Taylor is a man who has everything but what he craves most: the love and fidelity of his wife. A hugely successful player in the New York financial world, he considers her to be his most treasured acquisition. But she needs more than simply the role of dazzling accessory.
The Devil's Advocate
1997 · 2h 24m
country: Germany
Aspiring Florida defense lawyer Kevin Lomax accepts a job at a New York law firm. With the stakes getting higher every case, Kevin quickly learns that his boss has something far more evil planned.
White Lies
1997 · 1h 34m
country: United States
A museum worker pretends to be an artist in order to impress women. When an attractive assistant director of a SoHo art gallery overhears him, she offers to exhibit his work. He plays along, which leads to a series of complications following his newfound double life. He starts falling in love with the assistant director, but her art critic fiancé grows suspicious.
The Summer of Ben Tyler
1996 · 1h 50m
country: United States
Set early during World War II, the film has a lot to say about love, honor, relationships, commitment and power. Keeping their promise to their dying black housekeeper, a white family takes in her teenage mentally-slow son. The movie details the joys and conflicts the family faces as a result of their decision.
Harambee!
1996 · 1h
country: United States
During a Kwanzaa celebration, a recovering drug addict who now counsels drug users inspires the residents of a Brooklyn housing project to apply the principles of the holiday to combat violence in their neighborhood.
Manny & Lo
1996 · 1h 28m
country: United States
A pregnant teen and her younger sister run away from foster homes and kidnap a woman whom they believe can help with the pregnancy.
Girl 6
1996 · 1h 48m
country: United States
A struggling actress in New York City takes a job as a phone sex operator.
Mercy
1995 · 1h 24m
country: United States
The world of successful New York lawyer Frank Kramer unravels when his daughter, Nicole, is kidnapped. Her abductors, Matty and Ruby, send him on an exhausting odyssey crisscrossing New York City. Every time the phone rings, Frank is forced to comply with the kidnappers' increasingly outrageous demands. Twenty-four hours later, Frank has stolen a quarter of a million dollars from his office, been beaten up in Harlem, and is no closer to his daughter. He has no idea that the kidnappers want more than his money. They want Rachel.
The Keeper
1995 · 1h 32m
country: United States
Paul Lamont, a corrections officer and law student, leads a comfortable if culturally bankrupt, middle-class existence. Lamont's marriage is already in trouble when he bails out a mysterious Haitian, Jean Baptiste, in the belief that Baptiste has been wrongly accused. Baptiste insinuates himself in Lamont's life and leads him on a journey of discovery. Lamont then finds that acts of conscience can have unforeseen consequences.
Notes for My Daughter
Notes for My Daughter
1995 · 1h
country: United States
A teen girl struggles to deal with her mother's breast cancer.
Dead Funny
1994 · 1h 36m
country: United States
When her practical joker boyfriend dies, a young woman recalls all the pranks he pulled as she tries to figure out who murdered him.
Weekend at Bernie's II
1993 · 1h 37m
country: United States
Everybody's favorite stiff is back! Working fools Larry Wilson and Richard Parker have uncovered a dirty, little secret: Their former boss, Bernie Lomax, embezzled $2 million and placed it in a safe deposit box in the Caribbean. Now, the boys are ready to go after the loot, but they can't do it alone -- they need poor Bernie's help. Can the buddies give their ex-boss new life?
Daybreak
1993 · 1h 31m
country: United States
When a substantial portion of the nation's populace falls victim to a deadly plague, the tyrannical government quarantines them in camps, offering no alternative except death. But a gutsy rebel named Torch sets out to help the afflicted by leading an underground effort to spirit the victims to humane sanctuary.
Citizen Cohn
1992 · 1h 47m
country: United States
As lawyer and power broker Roy Cohn lies dying of AIDS in a private hospital room, ghosts from his past visit him as he reflects on his life and loves.
Strictly Business
1991 · 1h 24m
country: United States
Waymon has a great job in real estate and a promising future, but he's also trapped in a loveless longterm relationship. He meets Natalie, a beautiful club-hopping hipster, and quickly falls in love. Realizing he's just not cool enough to attract her on his own, he seeks the help of his friend Bobby, a free-spirited smooth talker who works in the mail room at Waymon's firm and utilizes the predicament as leverage to advance in the company.
Green Card
1990 · 1h 48m
country: France
Urban horticulturalist Brontë Mitchell has her eye on a gorgeous apartment, but the building's board will rent it only to a married couple. Georges Fauré, a waiter from France whose visa is expiring, needs to marry an American woman to stay in the country. Their marriage of convenience turns into a burden when they must live together to allay the suspicions of the immigration service, as the polar opposites grate on each other's nerves.
Privilege
1990 · 1h 43m
country: United States
Privilege is an intelligently conceived, boldly anarchic, and wickedly insightful exposition on the culturally ingrained and socially divisive malaise of isms that artificially define and characterize empowerment in contemporary society: ageism, sexism, economic elitism, and racism. Yvonne Rainer conveys texture through the intercutting of archival footage, video, and film - as well as compositional layering through the film-within-a-film structure, elliptical (and self-referential) fusion of past and present, and the filmmaker's idiosyncratic penchant for superimposed typed text.
The Littlest Victims
1989 · 1h 31m
country: United States
A true account of the life of pioneering AIDS doctor James Oleske.
Orphans
1987 · 1h 55m
country: United States
Brothers Treat and Philip have only had each other since they were kids, when a small-time criminal abruptly upends their routine lives.
Kojak: The Price of Justice
1987 · 1h 35m
country: United States
When the bodies of two young boys are discovered in the Harlem River, their mother is the obvious suspect, particularly with her scandalous past. But what appears to be an open-and-shut case soon becomes something much more sinister.
The Flamingo Kid
1984 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Brooklyn teenager Jeffrey Willis, thoroughly unhappy with his modest homestead, embraces the other-world aspects of his summer job at the posh Flamingo Club. He spurns his father in favor of the patronage of smooth-talking Phil Brody and is seduced by the ample bikini charms of club member Carla Samson. But thanks to a couple of late-summer hard lessons, the teen eventually realizes that family should always come first.
He's Fired, She's Hired
1984 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Advertising executive, Alex Grier, is fired and is unable to find another position, being over-qualified. His wife, Annabelle, with no experience, is hired by the Freddie Fox agency when she uses her husband's résumé to get the job. He remains at home, raising their three children, coaxing his wife while trying to write the "great American novel."
The Cotton Club
1984 · 2h 10m
country: United States
Harlem's legendary Cotton Club becomes a hotbed of passion and violence as the lives and loves of entertainers and gangsters collide.
A Doctor's Story
1984 · 1h 36m
country: United States
A physician frustrates his family in his fight to prove that an elderly man is not senile.
Abuse
1983 · 1h 34m
country: United States
Brutally abused by his parents, teenage Thomas finds comfort in associating with a film director who is making a documentary about physical child abuse. The two fall in love, and the elder is faced with the decision of either running away with Thomas or focusing on his career and thereby letting the boy possibly be beaten to death.
The Torture of Mothers: The Case of the Harlem Six
1980 · 52m
country: Unknown
In 1963 a group of young Black boys living in Harlem were involved in an incident that earned them the nickname "The Harlem Six." Intent on protecting and clearing the names of their sons, several mothers bonded together to make their story known. This work emerges as a powerful close up of police brutality, and of power dynamics of 1960's Harlem.
The Seduction of Joe Tynan
1979 · 1h 48m
country: United States
Respected liberal Senator Joe Tynan is asked to to lead the opposition to a Supreme Court appointment. It means losing an old friend and fudging principles to make the necessary deals, as well as further straining his already part-time family life. But it could be a big boost to his career, so he takes it on. Helping him prepare the case is pretty southern researcher Karen Traynor, and their developing relationship further complicates and compromises his life.
An Unmarried Woman
1978 · 2h 4m
country: United States
A wealthy woman from Manhattan's Upper East Side struggles to deal with her new identity and her sexuality after her husband of 16 years leaves her for a younger woman.