The Great White Hope

Jack Jefferson

Goldie

Tick

Pop Weaver

Dixon

Clara

Cap'n Dan

Cameron

Mama Tiny

Scipio

Smitty

Fred

Brady

Pastor (as Roy E. Glenn Sr.)

Deacon

French Promoter

El Jefe

Sister Pearl

Ragosy (as Oscar Beregi)

Paco

Hans (as Karl Otto Alberty)

The Kid

Man in German Nightclub (uncredited)

Reporter (uncredited)

Carnival Barker (uncredited)

English Official (uncredited)

Reporter (uncredited)

Policeman (uncredited)

Barrister (uncredited)

Prussian Officer in beer garden (uncredited)

Minor Role (uncredited)

Housekeeper (uncredited)

Pastor (uncredited)

Globe, Arizona Extra (uncredited)

Attorney (uncredited)

Chicago Kid (uncredited)

Redd Foxx, who knew former heavyweight champ Jack Johnson, whose career and struggle against racism inspired the original play, turned down a role in the film as he believed it was not a true picture of his old friend.

In addition to Jack Jefferson being based on Jack Johnson, several other characters are based on real life individuals. Frank Brady is a stand-in for Jim Jeffries, the former heavyweight champion who came out of retirement to try to end Johnson's title reign, Cap'n Dan is based on "Gentleman" Jim Corbett, the racist former champion refused to fight black men as champion, and the Kid is a stand-in for Jess Willard, the fighter who eventually beat Johnson for the title in Havana in 1915. Eleanor is a composite of two white women Johnson married, Etta Duryea (who, like Eleanor, committed suicide), and Lucille Cameron, who he fled the country with after being convicted.

The film was promoted and billed as "The most honored play in the history of Broadway...becomes an electrifying motion picture!"

In the first scene in which we see Jefferson practicing, the sweat on his shirt changes from shot to shot in a way that wouldn't be predicted by evaporation.

Dixon: Well, when a man beats us out like this, we, of course, look foolish, but more important, so does the law. People lose respect for law, and that we just cannot afford right now. You may not be aware of it yet, but a very large, very black migration is in progress. They're coming from the fields down South, filling up the slums. And I am talking about hundreds of thousands, maybe millions soon. Millions of ignorant Negroes rapidly massing together. Now, we cannot allow the image of this man to go on impressing and exciting these people.

Smith aka Smitty, Evening Mirror Reporter: [about Brady] You still think you can take him?

Pop Weaver: Makes you feel kind of old, doesn't it? Seeing Brady refereeing.