Interesting Movie Facts #1: The Almost Cameo of 'Advise & Consent' (1962)

This a new series I want to do where I highlight an interesting movie fact I've heard or maybe just list off cool facts about a film. 

This was inspired by recent events. Specifically, the recent U.S. Senate special election in Georgia where Rev. Dr. Raphael Warnock became the first African-American to be elected Senator from that state.

Senator-elect Raphael Warnock

Otto Preminger directed and produced a political dramas Advise & Consent (1962), based on the novel of the same name by Allen Drury. 

The plot summary from IMDB:

"Senate investigation into the President's newly nominated Secretary of State gives light to a secret from the past, which may not only ruin the candidate but the President's character as well."

Henry Fonda as the controversial Secretary of State nominee

This cast for this movie is incredible: Henry Fonda as the President's controversial Secretary of State nominee; Charles Laughton as the "curmudgeon" South Carolina Senator and Presiden Pro Tem; Burgess Meredith as a surprise witness for the committee; and Betty White making her film debut as a Senator from Kansas. 

The future icon in her first film role.

Also among the senator was 87-year-old Henry F. Ashurst, one of the first two senators to be elected from Arizona. He's in two scenes where he's in a deep sleep and whenever he is awakened from a deep sleep he shouts "oppose, sir! opposed!" Sadly, he passed away a week before the movie premiered. 

"Oppose, sir! Opposed!"

But there's another senator cameo that never came about would've been huge. Preminger offered a cameo as a Senator from Georgia to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Yes, that Dr. King. 

New York Times article about the almost cameo.

This was despite the fact that there were no African-American senators serving at that time. 

HISTORY SIDENOTE: There were African-Americans elected to the Senate prior to 1962. But the next African-American senator (Edward Brooke of Massachusetts) wouldn't take office until 1967.

Apparently, King thought long and hard about taking the part but ultimately declined because he felt it would hurt the civil rights movement.

Oh, also Dr. Warnock is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. He also plans on continuing his duties even when serving as a senator. 

This is the same church that Dr. King performed his pastoral duties with his father. 

So, while Dr. King never got to portray a U.S. Senator, a man who continues to lead his church would go on to become an actual U.S. Senator nearly 60 years after the film was released. 

All images belong to their respective sources.

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