8.5120 minSeason 1 • Episode 3
LatestThe story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., stretching from his days as a Southern Baptist minister in the South of the 1950s until his assassination in Memphis in 1968.
Acting
Winfield and Tyson are transcendent.
Writing
Abby Mann's dialogue honors without hallowing.
Production
NBC poured 1978 resources into this.
Paul Winfield
Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Cicely Tyson
Coretta Scott King
Tony Bennett
Tony Bennett
Roscoe Lee Browne
Philip Harrison
Lonny Chapman
Chief Frank Holloman
Ossie Davis
Rev. Martin Luther King Sr.
Cliff DeYoung
Robert F. Kennedy
Al Freeman Jr.
Damon Lockwood
Clu Gulager
William Sullivan
Steven Hill
Stanley Levison
William Jordan
John F. Kennedy
Warren J. Kemmerling
Lyndon Johnson
Lincoln Kilpatrick
Waring
Kenneth McMillan
Bull Connor
Howard Rollins
Andrew Young
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was Abby Mann's passion project after winning an Oscar for Judgment at Nuremberg; he fought NBC for three years to get it made.
Aired months before the House voted to establish MLK Day as a federal holiday—timing that made NBC executives extremely nervous.
US
