Leon Gast Leon Gast Leon Gast is an American documentary film director, producer, cinematographer, and editor. His documentary, "When We Were Kings" depicts the iconic heavyweight boxing match: The Rumble in the Jungle between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman. This film would go on to win the 1996 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and the Independent Spirit Award. Gast co-directed the 1977 documentary, "The Grateful Dead Movie" with guitarist Jerry Garcia. The film captured the band's October 1974, five-night performance at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. Gast also co-directed the 1983 film "Hell's Angels Forever," which focused on the notorious
Muhammad Ali had too much to drink. Ali biographer Thomas Hauser, who was present, recalled that for the next 10 minutes Larry Holmes positioned himself between Ali and Frazier, preventing Frazier from reaching Ali. George Foreman then took over and acted as Ali's shield for the next 10 minutes. Throughout this incident, Ali remained oblivious to what was going on. In his 1996 autobiography "Smokin' Joe: The Autobiography of a Heavyweight Champion of the World", in which he always refers to Ali as Cassius Clay, Frazier wrote: Commenting on Ali lighting the Olympic flame in 1996, Frazier stated that it would have