Don Cheadle plays the Washington radio legend
Talk to Me (2007), starring Don Cheadle, tells the true story of Petey Greene — an ex-convict who became a beloved Washington, D.C. radio host and, in a marathon broadcast after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination, helped calm the 1968 riots.
Ralph Waldo “Petey” Greene Jr. served time for armed robbery at Lorton Reformatory, where he became the prison DJ. That launched a broadcasting career: on Washington's WOL he became one of the city's most trusted and outspoken voices, and a two-time Emmy winner.
His defining moment came in April 1968. As Washington erupted after the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Greene went on the air in a marathon broadcast, channelling the anger while urging people not to burn down their own city.
The 2007 film Talk to Me, directed by Kasi Lemmons, stars Don Cheadle as Greene and Chiwetel Ejiofor as his manager Dewey Hughes.
Sources: Petey Greene, Wikipedia · Talk to Me (2007 film), Wikipedia