Leadbelly poster

Leadbelly

You can't bury a black legend like Leadbelly!

6.4(8)19762h 6m4

The life of Blues and folk singer Huddie Leadbetter, nicknamed Leadbelly is recounted. Covering the good times and bad from his 20s to 40s. Much of that time was spent on chain gangs in the south. Even in prison he became well known for the songs he had composed and sung during and before the time he spent there.

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Status
Released
Budget
—
Box office
—
Language
English
  • biography
  • blues music

Top billed cast

Behind the camera

Director

Gordon Parks

Produced in

United States of America

Gallery

Still from Leadbelly

Videos

Release dates

  • United StatesUS

    • PremiereUSA Film Festival7 Apr 1976
    • TheatricalPGNew York City, New York28 May 1976
  • BrazilBR

    • Theatrical (limited)14IMS Paulista (Gordon Parks: A América Sou Eu)11 Dec 2025
  • ItalyIT

    • TVRete A4 Jun 1983

Frequently asked questions

Leadbelly was released on 28 May 1976.

Audience reviews

1
  • J

    JPRetana

    6/16/2026

    Leadbelly (1976) opens with Huddie ‘Lead Belly’ Ledbetter (Roger E. Mosley) as an old man in prison. By “old” I mean they dyed Mosley’s hair and eyebrows gray, and even “dyed” might be an overstatement. Ledbetter is shirtless when we first meet him, so we can see he’s actually a strapping middle-age man. Perhaps that stuff on his hair is just dust from breaking rocks all day. Ethnomusicologists John and Alan Lomax…

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