'American Crime Story' scene-stealer Courtney B. Vance on playing polarizing Johnnie Cochran
In reality, O.J. Simpson's attorney Johnnie Cochran was many things at once, wrapped up in one immaculately tailored package: a smooth-talking litigator, crusading redeemer of racial injustice, fiery orator sermonizing to juries, master media manipulator, and down-and-dirty legal brawler who'd stop at next to **thing in service of his client.
To find an actor to compellingly portray any one of Cochran's multiple facets would certainly be a challenge, but to search out someone to play all of them on TV? It would seem a near impossible task, were it **t for the fact that The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story*executive producer Ryan Murphy was already well acquainted with a performer up to the challenge: Courtney B. Vance, whose wife Angela Bassett had been working her own special magic for Murphy's anthology ****** American Horror Story to much acclaim for several seasons. Read more...