King (miniseries) - Misplaced Pages

(Redirected from King (TV miniseries)) 1978 American TV series or program

King
DVD cover
Written by	Abby Mann
Directed by	Abby Mann
Starring	Paul Winfield Cicely Tyson
Music by	Billy Goldenberg
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
Production
Producer	Paul Maslansky
Cinematography	Michael Chapman
Editors	David Berlatsky Byron Brandt Richard C. Meyer
Running time	300 minutes
Original release
Network	NBC
Release	February 12 (1978-02-12) – February 14, 1978 (1978-02-14)

King is a 1978 American television miniseries based on the life of Martin Luther King Jr., the American civil rights leader. It aired for three consecutive nights on NBC from February 12 through 14, 1978.

Production

Several real-life figures from the Civil Rights Movement had minor roles in the production, including then-Atlanta mayor Maynard Jackson, King's sister Christine King Farris, his niece Alveda King, and his four children: Yolanda, Martin III, Dexter and Bernice. Donzaleigh Abernathy, Tony Bennett, Julian Bond and Ramsey Clark each portrayed themselves.

Reception

The miniseries earned nine Emmy Award nominations, including nominations for actors Paul Winfield, Cicely Tyson and Ossie Davis.

Though heavily promoted, the series met with controversy and was a huge ratings disappointment. The first installment was the lowest rated of all 64 prime time programs for the week of its debut.

Cast

Paul Winfield as Martin Luther King Jr.
Cicely Tyson as Coretta Scott King
Tony Bennett as himself
Roscoe Lee Browne as Phillip Harrison
Lonny Chapman as Chief Frank Holloman
Ossie Davis as Martin Luther King Sr.
Cliff DeYoung as Robert F. Kennedy
Al Freeman Jr. as Damon Lockwood
Clu Gulager as William C. Sullivan
Steven Hill as Stanley Levison
William Jordan as John F. Kennedy
Warren J. Kemmerling as Lyndon B. Johnson
Lincoln Kilpatrick as Jerry Waring
Kenneth McMillan as Theophilus E. "Bull" Connor
Howard E. Rollins Jr. as Andrew Young
David Spielberg as David Beamer
Dolph Sweet as J. Edgar Hoover
Dick Anthony Williams as Malcolm X
Art Evans as A.D. King
Frances Foster as Alberta Williams King
Tony Holmes as Martin Luther King III
Felecia Hunter as Yolanda King
Roger Robinson as Fred Shuttlesworth
Ernie Lee Banks as Ralph Abernathy
Donzaleigh Abernathy as herself
Alveda King as Babysitter
Julian Bond as himself
Ramsey Clark as himself
Christine King Farris as Ferris Church Soloist
Maynard Jackson as Wallace Whitmore
Bernice King as Student
Dexter Scott King as Student #2
Martin Luther King III as Rev. Briggs
Yolanda King as Rosa Parks

Annazette Chase was considered to portray Coretta Scott King.

Home media

The miniseries was released on DVD on January 11, 2005.

References

(16 February 1978). ABC Tops in Ratings, Desert Sun
(20 April 1978). 'Holocaust' Sweeps TV Ratings, Santa Cruz Sentinel ("NBC suffered disastrous ratings on 'King'") (Associated Press story)
Fuller, Jennifer. Dangerous fictions: race, history, and King, in Cinema Journal (Vol 49, Issue 2) (Winter 2010)
Cameron, Chris (4 January 2015). King of (Media) Kings, African American Intellectual History Society (AAIHS)
Winfrey, Carey (16 February 1978). $5 Million TV Documentary Show Is Regarded as a Rating Disaster, The New York Times, p. C19.
Wilkins, Roger (16 February 1978). Controversy on Film's Accuracy Flares Up Among Black Activists, The New York Times, p. C19.
Waring is a fictitious character. In real life, his actions as depicted in the miniseries were performed by C. T. Vivian.
Kleiner, Dick (3 May 1977). "Beauty a Handicap, Miss Raffin Finds". Pittsburgh Press. Retrieved 25 April 2016.

External links

King at IMDb
King at AllMovie

Martin Luther King Jr.

Speeches, writings, movements, and protests

Speeches	"Give Us the Ballot" (1957) "I Have a Dream" (1963) "How Long, Not Long" (1965) "Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break Silence" (1967) "I've Been to the Mountaintop" (1968)
Writings	Stride Toward Freedom (1958) "What Is Man?" (1959) "Second Emancipation Proclamation" Strength to Love (1963) "Letter from Birmingham Jail" (1963) Why We Can't Wait (1964) Conscience for Change (1967) Where Do We Go from Here: Chaos or Community? (1967)
Movements and protests	Montgomery bus boycott (1955–1956) Prayer Pilgrimage for Freedom (1957) Albany Movement (1961–1962) Birmingham campaign (1963) March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (1963) St. Augustine movement (1963–1964) Selma to Montgomery marches (1965) Chicago Freedom Movement (1966) Mississippi March Against Fear (1966) Anti-Vietnam War movement (1967) Memphis sanitation strike (1968) Poor People's Campaign (1968)

People

Family

Coretta Scott King (wife)
Yolanda King (daughter)
Martin Luther King III (son)
Dexter King (son)
Bernice King (daughter)
Martin Luther King Sr. (father)
Alberta Williams King (mother)
Christine King Farris (sister)
A. D. King (brother)
James Albert King (grandfather)
Alveda King (niece)

Other
leaders

Ralph Abernathy (mentor, colleague)
Ella Baker (colleague)
James Bevel (strategist / colleague)
Dorothy Cotton (colleague)
Jesse Jackson (protégé)
Bernard Lafayette (colleague)
James Lawson (colleague)
John Lewis (colleague)
Joseph Lowery (colleague)
Benjamin Mays (mentor)
Diane Nash (colleague)
James Orange (colleague)
Bayard Rustin (advisor)
Fred Shuttlesworth (colleague)
C. T. Vivian (colleague)
Wyatt Walker (colleague)
Hosea Williams (colleague)
Andrew Young (colleague)

Assassination
Lorraine Motel (now National Civil Rights Museum) Riots Funeral James Earl Ray Jack Kershaw U.S. House Select Committee on Assassinations (HSCA) Martin Luther King Jr. Records Collection Act Loyd Jowers Trial Conspiracy theories

Media

Film	King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970 documentary) Our Friend, Martin (1999 animated) Boycott (2001 film) The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 (2008 documentary) Selma (2014 film) All the Way (2016 film) King in the Wilderness (2018 documentary) MLK/FBI (2020 documentary) Rustin (2023 film)
Television	King (1978 miniseries) "The First Store" (The Jeffersons, 1980) "Great X-Pectations" (A Different World, 1993) "The Promised Land" (New York Undercover, 1997) Selma, Lord, Selma (1999) "Return of the King" (The Boondocks, 2006) Alpha Man: The Brotherhood of MLK (2011 documentary) Genius (MLK/X, 2024)
Plays	The Meeting (1987) The Mountaintop (2009) I Dream (2010) All the Way (2012)
Illustrated	Martin Luther King and the Montgomery Story (1957 comic book)
Music	"Abraham, Martin and John" (Dion) "March! For Martin Luther King" (John Fahey) "Martin Luther King's Dream" (Strawbs) "Happy Birthday" (Stevie Wonder) "Pride (In the Name of Love)" (U2) "MLK" (U2) "King Holiday" (King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew) "By the Time I Get to Arizona" (Public Enemy) "Shed a Little Light" (James Taylor) "Up to the Mountain" (Patti Griffin) "Never Alone Martin" (Jason Upton) "Symphony of Brotherhood" (Miri Ben-Ari) Joseph Schwantner: New Morning for the World; Nicolas Flagello: The Passion of Martin Luther King (1995 album) "A Dream" (Common featuring will.i.am) "Glory" (Common and John Legend)
Related	Civil rights movement in popular culture Estate of Martin Luther King, Jr., Inc. v. CBS, Inc. King v. Trustees of Boston Univ.

v t e Coretta Scott King
April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006
Life	Childhood and education Civil rights movement 1967 San Francisco anti-war march King Center for Nonviolent Social Change 2004 Gandhi Peace Prize Death and funeral
Other	Martin Luther King Jr. Day King v. Trustees of Boston Univ.
Reaction	Recognition and tributes
Namesakes	Coretta Scott King Award Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy
Family	Martin Luther King Jr. (husband) Yolanda King (daughter) Martin Luther King III (son) Dexter King (son) Bernice King (daughter) Edythe Scott Bagley (sister)
Depictions	King (1978 miniseries) Our Friend, Martin (1999 animated) Betty & Coretta (2013 film) Selma (2014 film) The Embrace (2023 statue) Rustin (upcoming film)
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