May 11, 2009

CHICAGO – Felix "Uncle Bush" Breazeale sat in the front passenger seat of the hearse headed to his funeral. In back was the coffin he'd made himself from walnut. The 73-year-old recluse was a man of few words but not even close to death on that hot June day in 1938.

Thousands of people from several states gathered for the service in a Tennessee field. Most wanted to see Breazeale, a scraggly-bearded man who insisted on a funeral before he died. "Just wanted to hear what the preacher has to say about me while I am alive," he told a newspaper.

A movie version of the event is expected in theaters later this year, in part because of the persistence of a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

The Rev. Scott Seeke of suburban Atlanta first heard the funeral story from relatives of his wife, the Rev. Beth Birkholz, also an ELCA pastor. Her great-grandfather, Frank Quinn, owned the Loudon, Tenn., funeral home that handled the service. Her grandfather, Frank "Buddy" Robinson, drove the hearse. Both men are now deceased.

"When Mr. Robinson told this story I thought it would be a really good movie," said Seeke, pastor of The River Church, Alpharetta, Ga., an ELCA congregation. "I called a buddy from college who was a Hollywood writer. He liked the idea. We worked on it together."

The movie, titled "Get Low," probes spiritual themes – grace, forgiveness, accountability. Breazeale lived in the hills with his parents until they died, then he lived alone and kept a mule. His sordid past included a murder allegation.

"We all want to be forgiven for the things we've done wrong," said Seeke, who was an extra in the movie, along with Birkholz and their six-year-old daughter Miriam. Birkholz is associate pastor, Holy Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church, Marietta, Ga.

The script faced years of rejection. Then an Oscar-winning crew signed on: director Aaron Schneider, The Zanuck Company and producer Dean Zanuck, actors Sissy Spacek and Robert Duvall, who plays Breazeale. They took significant pay cuts to make the $7 million movie, a low budget film by Hollywood standards.

"They are in this movie because they love the story," Seeke said. "The producers are billing it as a thriller, but I would say it's a drama, though parts are really funny."

Oscar nominee Bill Murray plays the funeral home director, who saw a business opportunity in Breazeale. Murray was the perfect choice to play her quick-witted great-grandfather, Birkholz said.

"He wasn't a money grubber, but definitely a shrewd businessman and very funny," she said. "He advertised the funeral. He imported a preacher. It was a slow summer in the funeral business. People weren't dying. He saw a business opportunity."

Although the funeral service was somber, the atmosphere was like a county fair. Vendors sold hot dogs and soft drinks. Florists donated funereal flowers. A clothier provided the dark suit worn by Breazeale, his first ever.

The Breazeale event is legendary in eastern Tennessee, according to Renee McGill, who now runs the funeral home with her family. Kids prepare projects for school about the funeral. Older people tell firsthand accounts. "People wanted his autograph, but he didn't know how to write," said 87-year-old J.Y. McNabb.

Breazeale lived for five years after his "fake" funeral. When he died in 1943 only a handful of people turned out. No one recalls what was said.

To see a photo of Felix Breazeale at the 1938 funeral, go to http://tnsos.org/tsla/imagesearch/citation.php?ImageID=29533, at the Tennessee State Library. For information about the movie, go to http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1194263/, on the Web. To learn about The River Church and the Rev. Scott Seeke, go to http://www.wadeintheriver.org/, on the Web. The link http://www.holytrinitymarietta.org/, is the congregation where the Rev. Beth Birkholz ministers.

ELCA News Service