Kevin Costner, Whitney’s “The Bodyguard” Co-Star, Gives Emotional Eulogy

Kevin Costner, Whitney’s “The Bodyguard” Co-Star, Gives Emotional Eulogy

Pop icon Whitney Houston’s service was held last Saturday at New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey, which is Whitney’s childhood church where she sang in a choir as a child.

Dashing actor Kevin Costner, who was the male lead role and the co-star of Whitney of the 1992 blockbuster film “The Bodyguard,” shared stories about the pop icon with whom he had a special bond.

Costner recounted the incident wherein he remembers Whitney as being nervous about accepting her first major movie role and being scared during her first screen test and had to return to her trailer.

"Whitney was scared," Costner recounted. "Arguably the biggest pop star in the world didn't believe she was good enough. Didn't think she looked right. I held her hand and told her she looked beautiful and that everybody wanted her to succeed."

After assuring Whitney that she is indeed cut for the role for about 30 minutes, she went back for a second screening and successfully secured the role by amazing the producers and casting agents.

Costner confessed that some of the producers and executives were, at first, hesitant about casting Whitney in the lead role in the film. "I was reminded that this would be her first acting role," he said. "Maybe we should think about another singer. Maybe someone white. Nobody ever said it out loud. But there would be a lot riding on it. Maybe a more experienced actress. It was clear I really had to think about this."

Kevin Costner said that he was totally confident, however, that Whitney was the right fit for the role that he even requested that the production of the film be delayed for a year to wait for Whitney to return from a concert tour.

Whitney Houston's characterization of the lead role made the film as successful as it was, Costner confessed. "It's a lot of leading men, a lot of guys could have filled that role," he said. "But you, Whitney, I believe were the only one who could have played Rachel Marron at that time."

“She was not just fit for the role, she was great for the role”, Costner said.

At Whitney’s service, there were a lot of touching performances and speeches from her close friends.  Among these are the rendition of “A Change Is Gonna Come” by Gospel artist Kim Burrell; Stevie Wonder offered an altered lyrics of the song: “A Ribbon in the Sky”; Alicia Keys offered a piano rendition of her ballad "Send Me an Angel"; Rev. Marvin Winans delivered the eulogy and brother and sister duo BeBe and CeCe Winans performed separately.

Veteran Clive Davis, who discovered and produced all of Whitney’s music, addressed a touching speech to Houston's mother, saying he was astonished by her daughter's talent. "You wait for a voice like that for a lifetime," he said. "A face like that, a presence like that for a lifetime, and when a person embodies it all, it takes your breath away. That's the way I felt in 1983 when in the middle of your act at Sweetwaters, she stepped forward and shattered me with her version of 'The Greatest Love of All.'"

Posted by Kade Quinn on Monday February 20 2012, 7:14 AM EDT. Ref: Google. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment, Featured News. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0