Dead Man Walking

Dead Man Walking, motion picture about a nun’s efforts to save a prisoner on death row, based on the true story of Sister Helen Prejean. Susan Sarandon earned an Academy Award for her performance as Prejean in this film, which was released in 1995. After Matthew Poncelet (Sean Penn) is incarcerated for killing and raping two people, he asks Prejean to help him appeal his sentence. Because of the nun’s opposition to the death penalty, she agrees to help. As they get to know each other, the nun struggles to look past the prisoner’s prejudices, ignorance, and rough exterior, and Poncelet gradually begins to trust and respect her. This moving examination of the issues surrounding the death penalty features great performances by Sarandon and Penn.

Director

• Tim Robbins

Cast

• Susan Sarandon (Sister Helen Prejean)
• Sean Penn (Matthew Poncelet)
• Robert Prosky (Hilton Barber)
• Raymond J. Barry (Earl Delacroix)
• R. Lee Ermey (Clyde Percy)
• Celia Weston (Mary Beth Percy)
• Scott Wilson (Prison priest)

Awards

• Academy Award for Best Actress (1995): Susan Sarandon

Quote

• Matthew Poncelet (to Sister Helen Prejean): “They got me on a greased rail to the death house here.”