Try using gray levels instead of the 0-1 range. (It's inconsistent, I know)
grayImage = imread('cameraman.tif');
subplot(2, 2, 1);
imshow(grayImage);
title('Original Image', 'fontSize', fontSize);
drawnow;
grayImg = insertShape(grayImage, 'line', [270 20 30 200], ...
'LineWidth', 10, 'Color', [0.75 0.75 0.75]*255 );
subplot(2, 2, 2);
imshow(grayImg);
impixelinfo;