Terrence Howard wanted afro as a kid

Hustle & Flow star Terrence Howard's latest movie, Pride, puts him smack dab in the 1970s with its polyester clothes, muscle cars, and retro soundtrack. The 38-year-old actor was actually only four years old the year the movie is set, but he remembers one thing about the era very distinctly -- his father wouldn't let him grow his hair out into an afro like activist Angela Davis: "It was my favorite time. I just wanted to grow an afro. I wanted to grow an afro and my daddy kept cutting my hair every six months. And I wanted to have one of those Angela Davis afros and I couldn't get it. Never could get it 'cause my daddy was 'presentation is everything' and that's why I wear a suit every day now."

The sharp-dressed Howard stars in Pride as Jim Ellis, a real-life schoolteacher who started an African-American swim team in a tough Philadelphia neighborhood. Pride opens nationwide Friday (March 23rd).