Reply #6: John Howard Griffin wrote the book, they made it into a film

[MADem]

that was nothing short of DREADFUL. James Whitmore tried valiently in the role, but he just couldn't cut it--between the script, which (unlike the tightly written page-turner of a book) was overbroad, there's only one thing I can say about the makeup for the effort: that one deserved that year's Razzie Award (if they had them back then) for the very worst makeup, bar none, in a feature film. The guy looked like he was ready to go out in the limelight for a cheesy minstrel show.

The book was quite good though. It may be dated nowadays, but the author relates rather vividly what he went through trying to assimilate into the black community (with little preparation and understanding) and the treatment he was accorded at the hands of the white community.

Here is the real author, with and without his skin darkened:





And here is the hapless James Whitmore in the excruciating and disappointing film adaptation of the book: