Cuba Gooding, Jr. on his Tuskegee airman role

Oscar-winner Cuba Gooding, Jr. is known for his moving roles in films like "Pearl Harbor" and "A Few Good Men." In a new feature from George Lucas, he takes on a moving role he's played before -- a Tuskegee airman, one of the legendary fliers from World War II.

In  "Red Tails," Gooding plays Maj. Emanuelle Stance, a soldier not unlike the one he played in the HBO 1995 docudrama "The Tuskegee Airmen."

Gooding told "CBS This Morning" that before taking that first role, he didn't know who the black airmen were. Now, he's met several of them personally during the filming of "Red Tails."

During the filming of the movie, at least one retired Tuskegee airman was on the set at all times to offer their thoughts on the film.

"Every lesson you can think of as a man to appreciate, you learn from them," Gooding said of the airmen. "I mean, their endurance. They arguably kick off the civil rights movement. They were at a time when the military was segregated. They just wouldn't take 'no' for an answer. And they were selfless and would rather die in the skies in a plane than to come back and have to deal with racism."

He added, "There was a documentary put together and there was this segment in it where after they did all of these fantastic things during the war, they come home and they file off the ship and there's whites to the left, blacks only to the right and it's like, you know what a statement that was."

"CTM" co-host Charlie Rose noted that Lucas is very passionate about the movie and is planning to talk about it in an extended interview to air on the broadcast soon.

In addition to the film, Gooding also took on some of the top stories of the day, from Wikipedia's protests over an anti-piracy lawto Burger King's decision to test delivery service of its burgers and fries. Watch the video in the player above for more with the "Red Tails" star.