It was front-page news in The New York Times of Oct. 20, 1961, that Otto Preminger, the producer and director of “Advise and Consent,” had signed Dr. King for a role in the movie. He was to appear in the cliffhanger scene when the Senate votes on the controversial nomination of the conciliatory Robert Leffingwell (Henry Fonda), accused of having once belonged to a Communist cell, as secretary of state. Mr. Preminger would not say which way Senator King would vote on the Leffingwell matter.

More than just a front-page story, the casting of Dr. King seemed to be a done deal.

“It is a short role, of course, and while I know people will think of it as a publicity gimmick, it is nothing of the sort,” Mr. Preminger told A. H. Weiler of The Times, suggesting by his denial that it was everything of the sort. (He had previously cast Joseph N. Welch, Senator Joseph R. McCarthy’s foe in the Army-McCarthy hearings, as Judge Weaver in “Anatomy of a Murder.” Also a front-page story. Also definitely not a publicity gimmick.)