A film about an extraordinary man made by an extraordinary man will make its public debut on East Tennessee PBS on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 4:30 p.m.

The film, “An Extraordinary man: Dr. Dennis Branch of Newport, Tennessee” was being completed by Walters State Professor Dr. Marc McClure when he died in December of 2020.

The film tells the story of Dr. Branch’s remarkable compassion and his unique skills as a physician while also tracking the arc of segregation during his lifetime (1886-1964). Branch came to national prominence in 1957 when Ebony magazine featured an article on him and he reached his pinnacle of fame when he appeared as the featured guest on an episode of “This is Your Life” in 1958.

According to the New York Times, obituary published at his death it was when he was a shoeshine boy in Raleigh, N.C., that his ambition to become a doctor began. He worked in the summer as a Pullman porter to help finance his studies. Dr. Branch once told an interviewer in Knoxville:

“We got $6.33 a week and tips. I remember so well the run to Lake Placid one summer. Among my passengers was a distinguished‐looking gentleman and his mother. I did my best to make them comfortable.”

The passenger was Dr. William F. CampbeIl of Memphis, who gave Dr. Branch’s studies a helping hand.

Branch became a doctor and settled in Newport, famously tending to white Appalachian families despite segregation-era social norms and laws that would make such a thing extremely unlikely if not impossible.

Dr. Branch was considered a pillar of the community and had a steady flow of patients until illness forced his retirement in 1962.

He died in 1964.

McClure was the 2018 recipient of the Walters State Community College Annual Faculty Service Award and received the Research Excellence Award for work on the World War I Kiffin Rockwell documentary from the East TN Historical Society.

McClure also received an MLK Community Award from the Morristown Task Force for Diversity in 2019.

In 2016, McClure was recognized by the East Tennessee Historical Society with the Excellence in Research award. In addition to the public showing on PBS, the film will be shown at the HOLA Sanbkofa Center on Friday, Feb. 17 at 6:30 courtesy of the Morristown Task Force on Diversity and HOLA Lakeway.