Amid the excitement that swirled around Boyz N the Hood last summer, most people didn't notice Angela Bassett's small, rich performance as an ambitious single mother who sends her little boy to live with his father. But Bassett's work did catch the eye of one important viewer: Spike Lee cast her in Malcolm X, opening next winter and starring Denzel Washington as the volatile Muslim leader. The role of Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz, was Bassett's reward for nearly 10 years of stage work as well as bit parts in sitcoms and movies, but it wasn't an easy one; in one scene, Shabazz, pregnant with twins, sees her husband assassinated. ''The day we filmed,'' says the Yale-trained actress, ''I had to watch it happen time after time for 8 or 10 straight hours. It takes a lot of prayer and concentration to open your heart to that kind of heartbreak.'' The soft-spoken, religious Bassett grew up in the St. Petersburg, Fla., projects and now lives alone in Los Angeles (her answering machine says, ''God bless you real good''). She shied away from talking to Shabazz herself, relying on other family members to educate her, but Alex Haley, Malcolm's biographer, gave her the deepest insight into Shabazz's marriage-and the greatest encouragement. ''He told me that he never met two people more in love,'' says Bassett. ''Then he looked at me and said, 'You're gonna honor Betty.'''
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