Don Cheadle Shares The Sweetest Story About A Random Aretha Franklin Phone Call

Don Cheadle  remembered the late Aretha Franklin by recounting the time she unexpectedly called to congratulate him on a movie.

On Thursday’s broadcast of “Jimmy Kimmel Live! ,” the award-winning actor and filmmaker recalled how the Queen of Soul used a fake voice at the start of the telephone call “in case she got someone else.”

Franklin then heaped praise on Cheadle for “Miles Ahead ,” the biopic of legendary jazz musician Miles Davis that he directed and starred in.

“I was knocked out,” Cheadle said of the conversation. “I mean, Aretha Franklin called me. It was crazy, a huge blessing.” Franklin died Thursday at age 76 from pancreatic cancer.

Cheadle also shared details of Franklin’s sweet phone call on Twitter, adding “her call meant as much or more to me than any compliment ever received.”

He also shared a screenshot of a text message from Franklin: