With more than 700 credits to his name, Eric Roberts is undoubtedly one of the most prolific actors in history. His first feature film role in 1978 earned him a Golden Globe nomination, and less than a decade later he was nominated for an Oscar thanks to his work in Runaway Train. Long before he became a Hollywood celebrity, though, Roberts was hobnobbing with famous folks of a different sort, that being civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. and his wife, Coretta Scott King.
Appearing on the WTF with Marc Maron podcast to talk about his new memoir Runaway Train: Or, The Story of My Life So Far, Roberts revealed that it was actually the late political philosopher who cut the cake at his 10th birthday party in 1966. MLK Jr. was on hand for the celebration due to his friendship with Roberts’ parents, who ran an acting school in Atlanta at the time, and accepted the King kids to be a part of it when no one else would because of racial tensions that were running high at the time, and sadly, still are.
“He cut my 10th birthday cake in Stone Mountain Park in 1966. His kids were all in a play there with me, and it was my birthday, and all the parents showed up for all the kids, and he was there for his kids. He was very, ‘Congratulations, you are ten!’ I gave him the knife to cut my cake, because he was the special guest.”
The connection between the King and Roberts families goes much deeper than a birthday party, though, as it was revealed by Julia Roberts herself (Eric’s younger sister) that the King family paid for her actual birth in 1967, just one year before the Baptist minister was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. “They helped us out of a jam,” she said in the amazing story you can hear recounted by Roberts below.
Eric Roberts Is Tearing It Up on Dancing With the Stars
Never one to slow down, the elder Roberts has appeared in an astounding 43 movies in 2024, and can now be seen on the latest season of Dancing With the Stars, where he’s paired with professional Britt Stewart. It’s a show he’s wanted to be a part of for the past 19 years, since he was first approached about appearing on the reality competition, but unfortunately had to turn it down due to a scheduling conflict. “I was devastated by that because I’m such a huge fan of the show and I’m ready to make up for lost time,” he said last night during the Season 33 premiere of DWTS.
As for how the experience felt? Roberts appeared on Today earlier this morning, adding “I’ve got a lot of courage, but I’ve never been more frightened in my life. It was mind-blowingly spooky.” Roberts and Stewarts’ initial performance wasn’t well received by the judges, earning a score of just 15 out of 30, the lowest of all the competitors. Will that lead to their elimination next week on Oscars Night? We’ll have to tune in to ABC on September 24 to find out.
