Charles Gregory, an Emmy-nominated hairstylist who frequently collaborated with Tyler Perry on his films and TV shows, died of complications from COVID-19 on Wednesday.
Gregory shared on social media two weeks earlier that he had tested positive for the virus and was moved into the hospital. His death was mourned by filmmakers like Tyler Perry, Ava DuVernay and Lee Daniels, with whom he was most recently working on Daniels’ film “The United States Vs. Billie Holiday.”
“He was a BRILLIANT hairstylist and did his MAGIC,” Daniels said in an Instagram post. “Whenever l complained about anyone’s hair he’d say ‘lemme just slap some grease on it.. it’ll be ok.’ And it was!!! The virus took him today. Please say a prayer for this wonderful man and his family.”
“Mr. Charles Gregory was a hairstylist that had worked with us for many years. The man was warm, loving and hilarious,” Perry wrote in an Instagram tribute. “We all loved to see him coming and hear his laughter. Charles lost his battle with COVID-19 today. It saddens me to think of him dying this way. My sincerest prayers are with his family.”
Gregory worked on numerous Perry projects, including “Madea Goes to Jail,” “Meet the Browns,” “The Family That Preys” and most recently the Sundance drama from this year “Zola,” which Perry produced. His other film work included “Drumline,” “Idlewild” and “Vice.” He was a Primetime Emmy nominee in 2005 for Outstanding Hairstyling for “Lackawanna Blues.
Ava DuVernay shared her love on Gregory’s Instagram after he passed on what would be his last post, a photo of himself in the hospital.
“God bless you and keep you in His Kingdom forever. You lit up every room you entered and every path you crossed,” DuVernay said. “Thank you for your warmth and your wisdom and your wonderful spirit. Please watch over us and keep loving us. We will keep loving you and will never forget you. Your memory will be our blessing.”
Perry likewise used the tribute to Gregory as an opportunity to urge the black community to take the threat of the coronavirus seriously. Perry pointed out that African Americans are dying at a disproportionately higher rate from the coronavirus than anyone else and that any rumors that black people cannot contract the virus are a lie.
“While everyone can contract this virus it is black people who are dying from it in much larger numbers. This thing is real, black people,” Perry said in an Instagram post late Wednesday. “I heard a black person say, ‘Black people don’t get it.’ That is a lie! You can get it, and you will get it if we don’t do what we’re being told to do.”
The Chicago Tribune reported earlier in the week that in Chicago, black residents have died at a rate six times higher than that of white residents and have contributed to 68% of the cities deaths, even though the black population is only roughly 30% of the city. Black people have also been found to have higher death rates from the virus in Los Angeles and New York City.
Perry said black people must continue to practice social distancing and remain at home whenever possible.
“I love us all too much to watch us die on the vine because we are the last to know and we are not taking this pandemic seriously. Black people, we are at a disproportionately higher risk of dying from this virus. Please, please, please, I beg you to take this seriously,” Perry said. “You have to socially distance yourself. That means stop hanging out, stop congregating, stop doing anything that will put not only your life in danger but also the lives of so many others. STAY HOME!! Socially distance yourself and stay alive! If you won’t do it for yourself, do it for someone you love, and for those who love you.”
All 11 Tyler Perry Madea Movies Ranked From Worst to Best (Photos)
Tyler Perry’s famous character Madea has appeared in nearly half of his films: a gun-toting, “Hallelu-yer”-shouting force of nature, and an outrageous drag tribute to his mother and aunt. But some movies in the Madea Cinematic Universe are gleefully manic, while others arrive in what appears to be a half-finished state of sad melodrama and mediocrity. Not counting her cameo in “Meet the Browns," or "Madea’s Tough Love," here's our favorite Madea mayhem:
11. "Madea's Witness Protection" (2012)
This was the second-highest-grossing Madea movie to date, but it came along at a time when Perry was making minor noise about retiring the character, and it shows. The film looks cheap even by Perry’s budget-minded standards, the jokes are flat, and the director appears tired of the role, having almost no comic rapport with co-star Eugene Levy.
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10. "Madea's Family Reunion" (2006)
The follow-up to Madea’s debut in “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” this movie proves that less Madea screen time means less entertainment. A dramatic abusive-fiancé storyline dominates the film, as do side characters’ preparations for a wedding and family reunion. Madea’s presence is limited to dispensing homespun wisdom to young Keke Palmer, a now-infamous line about shooting Tupac for a parking space, and the delivery of Oprah Winfrey’s “All my life I had to fight…” speech from “The Color Purple."
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9. "Boo 2! A Madea Halloween" (2017)
The first one made money, so Madea gets to be scared stupid all over again in a sequel so sluggish and haphazardly thrown together that it makes the first one seem like classic comedy by comparison. Madea spends most of the film sitting in a Cadillac and having her most florid swears awkwardly dubbed into softer versions.
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8. "A Madea Family Funeral" (2019)
Perry says this is the last Madea movie, and maybe it's time if this inert effort is all he can muster for his signature comic creation. Madea tends to do a lot of sitting around in this one -- a dramedy about infidelity and sudden death -- mocking the stupidity of those around her or dispensing old-fashioned life advice. Missing is her trademark wildness, her willingness to ignore all social convention and sense of decency, replaced by sedentary -- but often still quite funny -- one-liners. Come back when you're feeling it again, Madea.
7. "I Can Do Bad All By Myself" (2009)
The ratio of Madea to melodrama is sadly unbalanced in this near-musical about a troubled nightclub singer (Taraji P. Henson) and her struggle to get by, all while having to deal with caring for her recently orphaned niece and nephews. Madea drops into odd moments here and there for comic relief, but the real reasons to watch are Henson’s moving performance and Mary J. Blige showing up to knock the title song out of the park.
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6. "Boo! A Madea Halloween" (2016)
Chris Rock delivered a readymade name for this dare of a movie in “Top Five”; otherwise it would rightly be called “Madea Scared Stupid.” This time around, she chases her nephew’s rebellious teenage daughter from a fraternity Halloween party to a fake haunted house, battling a gauntlet of zombies, trendy murder-clowns, idiotic frat boys, and slasher movie set-ups. Our heroine tumbles extravagantly down staircases, babbles incoherently, and twerks to a Tyga track. In other words, it delivers pretty much what you expected when you bought a ticket.
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5. "A Madea Christmas" (2013)
Christmas needs saving, and it’s Madea to the rescue. Why it needs saving is irrelevant, but it involves a mean corporation, Larry the Cable Guy, and Lisa Whelchel from “The Facts of Life.” The solution involves Madea donning a Mrs. Claus outfit and laying waste to everyone who gets in the way of her Wonderful Life. She fights the KKK, ties up a misbehaving child with Christmas lights, and calls at least one person a “Satanic loudmouth diarrhea woman,” before going full-on anti-Linus and recounting a bizarrely backward Nativity story. Christmas crisis averted with antics, bringing much-needed chaos to a character whose energy seemed to be flagging.
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4. "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" (2005)
Perry introduced Madea to film audiences with a chainsaw, a “Mommie Dearest” gag about wire hangers, and a heavy dose of Bugs Bunny–style chaos, all in the strange service of an otherwise serious melodrama about marital discord and domestic abuse. When Madea’s tormented granddaughter (Kimberly Elise) winds up on her doorstep after fleeing a horrible husband, Madea helps the young woman with wild advice and a maniac’s zeal for destructive revenge. At one point, co-star Cicely Tyson admonishes Madea: “God takes care of folks better than you can,” to which Madea responds, “God takes too long.”
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3. "Madea Goes to Jail" (2009)
Madea’s criminal history involves a litany of charges including identity theft, insurance fraud, and attempted murder. This time around she defies court-ordered anger management (with Dr. Phil) and mocks her daughter Cora’s peaceful faith in Jesus. Landing in prison after destroying a racist woman’s car, she befriends serial killer Sofia Vergara, battles a predatory inmate, and gets released on a technicality, dancing out of the joint. The highest-grossing Madea film, and the one in which she’s almost conscience-free, as close to pure id as a human being can be without transforming into a cartoon Tasmanian Devil.
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2. "Madea's Big Happy Family" (2011)
The perfect combination of family dysfunction (featuring a solidly moving performance from Loretta Devine as a cancer-stricken mother) and a barnstorming Madea. The matriarch comes on like a tornado as she destroys a fast-food restaurant with both her car and her body, freestyle-lectures Christians on the “prescriptures” in the Bible, handily insults every person who crosses her path, and nearly meets her match when sparring with the wild and wicked Teyana Taylor.
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1. "A Madea Homecoming" (2022)
After years of working within the constraints of the PG-13 rating, the profane side of Madea triumphs, waving a gun, and dispensing edibles from her purse. A family reunion involving her great-grandson's college graduation -- one that brings the usual dose of family conflict, wisely solved by Madea in a late-narrative moment of lucidity -- turns this ensemble comedy into the funniest and best-directed Tyler Perry film since "Madea's Big Happy Family." A welcome -- and wild -- flashback sequence involving young Madea and an end credits mini-documentary crank up the chaos.
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Where does ”A Madea Homecoming“ rank in the Madea Cinematic Universe?
Tyler Perry’s famous character Madea has appeared in nearly half of his films: a gun-toting, “Hallelu-yer”-shouting force of nature, and an outrageous drag tribute to his mother and aunt. But some movies in the Madea Cinematic Universe are gleefully manic, while others arrive in what appears to be a half-finished state of sad melodrama and mediocrity. Not counting her cameo in “Meet the Browns," or "Madea’s Tough Love," here's our favorite Madea mayhem:
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