Big Red’s French-speaking skills may have added another level to his relationship with Eleanor, but it almost didn’t make it into “The Five Heartbeats,” in light of resistance from Townsend.

Big Red may be a fictional character James portrayed, but that isn’t enough to stop folks from being on their guard since “The Five Heartbeats” came to theaters in 1991. The film celebrates ...

Berry (allegedly) went to the wrong place and ended up in New Jersey, and The Five Heartbeats ended up on a rival label, Big Red Records, owned by Big Red Davis. But, it’s all just rumor ...

Coming in on the tail end of a rhythm and blues singing group explosion, The Five Heartbeats (Robert Townsend ... Their troubles culminate when executive Big Red (Hawthorne James) is arrested ...

The Five Heartbeats (Fox ... “sixth” Heartbeat and Hawthorne James as a record-company weasel known as Big Red. The music, including both new songs and standards, was written and performed ...

Hawthorne James, the man who played record exec, “Big Red,” had a strong background in Shakespearean theater. In Shakespeare’s play, Richard III, Richard comes in and, as he says ...

The Five Heartbeats, the 1991 movie written and directed ... The Five Heartbeat’s universe version of Suge Knight in Big Red (more or him next) who had their manager murdered over Eddie ...

Halfway through “The Five Heartbeats,” Robert Townsend’s movie ... “After the show, you’d race to the bus to get one of the big seats,” says Melvin Franklin of the Temptations.