In a 1993 television movie, Mark Lane Jr. played a teenager whoseonscreen mom, Oprah Winfrey, chastised him for wearing a Chicagogang's colors.
The 14-year-old actor, who edged out more than 1,000 tryouts forthe role of Lafeyette, survived the lure of the streets in the movie,"There Are No Children Here."
But in real life, the attraction of gangs proved too great andcost the Chicago man his life. He was gunned down two days beforeThanksgiving.
Lane was shot several times in a year-old Lexus GS300 luxury sedanand crashed into a gas station near Harrison and Independence on theWest Side.
Police have said the shooting appeared to be gang-related. Theyare still hunting for Lane's killer.
Lane, 22, was a self-admitted gang member whose nicknames included"Lil' Mark," "Shorty" and "Popsy," court records show. His rap sheetincludes three drug convictions dating to 1996.
Lane was a victim of the same violence the ABC Sunday moviespotlighted, said Alex Kotlowitz, author of the book that inspiredthe film.
"It saddens me. It's been 10 years since my book came out," hesaid, adding that a teen he befriended while doing research for thebook was killed this past spring on the West Side. "The one thingthat seems to persist with such stubbornness is this violence."
Lane's death also stunned a relative who remembered him as a boywho helped her with gardening and attended church with her.
"The West Side environment was not good for Mark," said the woman,who asked not to be named. "He was a victim of the environment. Hewas a nice little boy with a future, and unfortunately things didn'tpan out for him."
Lane had learned of a casting call for the movie from hisprincipal at Avalon Park Elementary on the South Side.
The entire school rallied around the young star when he was pickedfor the plum co-starring role, said his seventh-grade teacher, JoyceDrain.
His signature smile, warm eyes and bubbly personality convincedtalent agents to pick him, Drain said.
"He had braces on and when he smiled it was like a neon light,"she said. "You just wanted Mark to be around you."
Over her 28 years of teaching, Lane still sticks out in her mind.He was always eager to work on stage productions at the school, Drainsaid.
She still remembers when Lane and another student arranged asurprise party for her birthday.
It was the first time a student had done that for her. "He wasalways thinking up something to do.
"It's a tragedy to know someone that is young and gifted who wasstruck down in the prime of his life," she said. "His mother was uphere all the time, not because of any discipline problems."
Friends and family members could not explain how he gravitated tothe life of a gangster on the West Side.
Over the last five years, police have repeatedly stopped cars hewas driving and allegedly found him carrying drugs and thousands ofdollars in cash.
Among his convictions was a guilty plea in 1996 to selling cocaineand heroin near Cabrini-Green. He was sentenced to a year'sprobation.
In 1999, he was charged with battery after allegedly punching a 20-year-old woman in the back, leaving her with bruises. The case wastossed out after she failed to show up at a court hearing.
There was no sign of the trouble to come in an interview he gavethe Chicago Sun-Times in 1993, when he said his grandmotherencouraged him to take the role in the movie about life in the HenryHorner Homes.
He had more than seven casting calls before he landed the part--ahuge leap from his previous experience in school plays.
At the time, the teenager dreamed of joining the ROTC and becoming a lawyer, but he also planned to continue acting.
Winfrey taught him to be aware of the camera and not step out ofthe camera's range, the child actor said.
"She's real nice and supportive," he said of Winfrey, who wasunavailable for comment Tuesday.
In the movie, he played one of three sons of Winfrey's character,LaJoe, a single mother who counts her sons when she hears gunfireringing in the air outside their cramped public housing apartment.
In one scene, Lane's character, Lafeyette, tells a schoolmate notto wear gang colors near them when they're playing and knocks a goldbaseball cap off his friend's head.
He also warns his younger brother, Pharoah, to stay away fromgangs.
"Don't you ever get down with that, you promise?" his charactersays.
In the next scene, their schoolmate is shot--the gold baseball capback on his head.
