He appeared in the 1957 television special "Sound of Jazz", singing one of his signature songs, "I Left My Baby", backed by many of his former Basie band members. In 1958, he was among the musicians included in an "Esquire" magazine photo by Art Kane that was memorialized in the documentary film "A Great Day in Harlem". He toured the UK with Humphrey Lyttelton and his band. A BBC broadcast with Rushing accompanied by Lyttelton's big band was released in 2009. In 1960, he appeared in a videotaped blues jam at the Newport Jazz Festival with the Muddy Waters Blues Band, singing "Mean Mistreater". In 1969, Rushing appeared in "The Learning Tree", the first major studio feature film directed by an African-American, Gordon Parks.