The Butler

One quiet voice can ignite a revolution.

The Butler — Plot

Cecil Gaines was a sharecropper's son who grew up in the 1920s as a domestic servant for the white family who casually destroyed his. Eventually striking out on his own, Cecil becomes a hotel valet of such efficiency and discreteness in the 1950s that he becomes a butler in the White House itself. There, Cecil would serve numerous US Presidents over the decades as a passive witness of history with the American Civil Rights Movement gaining momentum even as his family has troubles of its own. As his wife, Gloria, struggles with alcoholism and his defiant eldest son, Louis, strives for a just world, Cecil must decide whether he should take action in his own way.

• Release date
• August 16, 2013
• Runtime
• 132 min
• Genres
• Drama
• Director
• Lee Daniels

The Butler — Cast

Forest Whitaker Cecil Gaines Oprah Winfrey Gloria Gaines David Oyelowo Louis Gaines John Cusack Richard Nixon Jane Fonda Nancy Reagan Cuba Gooding Jr. Carter Wilson Mariah Carey Hattie Pearl Terrence Howard Howard