18 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About Nelson Mandela

5. Mandela Had A Cameo Role In A Spike Lee Film... The Biopic "Malcolm X"

Nelson Mandela Acting Spike Lee Malcolm X Numerous films and TV shows have been written about Mandela - but the man himself has also been a film star, albeit in a solo cameo role. Spike Lee's 1992 American biographical drama film "Malcolm X" stars Denzel Washington in the titular role of the African-American activist - but Nelson Mandela also makes a cameo appearance. At the end of the film, Mandela is standing in a classroom in Soweto as a schoolteacher reciting some of the lines from one of Malcolm X's famous speeches. However, Mandela refused to say the famous line "by any means necessary" - because of the ramifications it could potentially have had - and so at the end it cuts back to archival footage of Malcolm X himself saying those words.
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NUFC editor for WhatCulture.com/NUFC. History graduate (University of Edinburgh) and NCTJ-trained journalist. I love sports, hopelessly following Newcastle United and Newcastle Falcons. My pastimes include watching and attending sports matches religiously, reading spy books and sampling ales.