During his career, Ben Vereen has shared the stage with legends like Sammy Davis Jr. and Bob Fosse.

 

But for some he is still best know for his role in 'Roots.' In fact, he says he never gets tired of people asking him about his role as Chicken George in the television adaptation of Alex Haley's novel:

 

"I wanted to be a piece of that history. Little did we know that today we’d be talking about Roots and the significance it had to the planet. When I was growing up, the only thing I read in the history books in school was the fact that we were slaves and Lincoln freed us … we come from greatness.

We needed someone as great as Alex Haley to go back and dig up his roots, and talk about his family and say 'this is the path, follow it, look this way, look here,' and when we dove in there, we found a treasure of information."