| “ | I did not kill Medgar Evers, no sir. But he sure is dead. | „ |
| ~ De La Beckwith simultaneously denying killing Medgar Evers and celebrating his death. |
Byron De La Beckwith, Jr. was the main antagonist of the 1996 film Ghosts of Mississippi. He is a white supremacist and former member of the Ku Klux Klan who assassinated civil rights leader Medgar Evers in Mississippi in 1963. He is a fictionalized version of the real De La Beckwith, who was found guilty of Evers' murder in 1994, 30 years after committing the crime.
He was portrayed by James Woods, who also played Hades in Hercules, Dr. Phillium Benedict in Recess: School's Out, Falcon in Stuart Little 2, Gloomius Maximus in Rolie Polie Olie: The Great Defender of Fun, Captain Ahab in The Adventures of Moby Dick, Ned Trent in The Specialist, Martin Walker in White House Down, George Sheffield in Scarface: The World is Yours, Lester Diamond in Casino, Tom Hedden in Straw Dogs, Maximilian "Max" Bercovicz in Once Upon a Time in America, and himself in Family Guy.
Biography[]
The film begins in 1963. One night, civil rights leader Medgar Evers was returning to his home. De La Beckwith was anticipating his arrival, and hid behind the bushes. He then shot Evers when he was about to enter into the house. Evers managed to crawl to the door, and then proceeded to die in his wife Myrlie's arms. After Evers' murder, De La Beckwith was put on trial twice, only to walk away free both times. Myrlie devoted 25 years of her life to bringing her husband's assassin to justice.
De La Beckwith appears later on in the film as an elderly man. When he heard that Bobby DeLaughter was taking Myrlie's case, he tried to discourage him from pursuing it with death threats and bomb threats. Eventually, De La Beckwith was tried again for Evers' murder, and this time, he was found guilty of murder, and was sentenced to life in prison.
De La Beckwith died in prison in 2001.