Berkeley High grad lands role in ‘Red Tails’ | Culture | Berkeley Independent

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Berkeley High grad lands role in ‘Red Tails’

Published Tuesday, January 31, 2012 9:58 AM

By Stefan Rogenmoser
Berkeley Independent

Photo Provided

Kevin Phillips, a Berkeley High School graduate, is pictured third from left in this promotional poster.

Photo by: Stefan Rogenmoser/Independent

Willie Powell and Gwen Phillips are spreading the word and inspirational message of “Red Tails” throughout the community.

Moncks Corner residents Gwen Phillips and a group of her friends went to see the movie “Red Tails” when it opened Jan. 20.

They had good reason to be there: Phillips’ son, Kevin Phillips, has a starring role in the film.

“It was sold out,” Phillips said of the scene on opening night. “Some people couldn’t get in.

“I thank (director) George Lucas for choosing my son to be part of this movie.”

Moncks Corner community activist Willie Powell was part of Phillips’ group. Powell ran a recreation program at the old Berkeley Middle School gym where a young Kevin Phillips played basketball.

“Kevin had a very gentle spirit with himself,” Powell said. “I credit his mother for his gentle spirit.”

Phillips graduated from Berkeley High School in 2000. He’s been acting for 10 years.

“Red Tails” tells the tale of the all-black Tuskegee Airmen units during World War II. The movie serves as an inspiration for the community, Powell said.

The Tuskegee Airmen were at first seen as inferior by their superiors, but were given a chance and to go beyond those expectations. The Tuskegee Airmen became famous for being excellent escorts to American bombers by warding off attacks from Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe.

When they went out on missions every plane came back, Powell said of the Tuskegee Airmen, whose airplanes had their tails and tail wings painted red.

“The movie displays that they did the job beyond and better than others,” Powell said.

Gwen and Kevin Phillips are originally from New York but moved to Moncks Corner in 1989, she said. Kevin now lives in California.

“I am very proud of him,” his mother said. “He’s a wonderful and passionate actor.”

“It’s a big deal for kids here,” Powell said. “(Kevin) came from a humble beginning.

“It gives inspiration to other young children, especially Moncks Corner kids, to let them know that they can come from the same place and walk on the same ground (and) that they can dream and take it to the highest level too.”

Lucas is the executive producer while Anthony Hemingway directs. Cuba Gooding Jr. and Terrence Howard also star in the movie.

While the Tuskegee Airmen training program began in Tuskegee, Ala., it later expanded to Walterboro. The 553rd Replacement Squadron was based and trained at the Walterboro airport toward the end of the war.

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