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person_profile-Willie Best

Willie Best Died at age: 49

Actor | Producer

Fullname:

Willie Best

Date of Birth:

May 27, 1913

Country of birth:

USA

Died:

Nov 27, 1962

Biography of

Willie Best

    William “Willie” Best (May 27, 1916 - February 27, 1962), sometimes known as “Sleep n' Eat,” was an American television and film actor. Best was one of the first African-American film actors and comedians to become well known. In the 21st century, his work, like that of Stepin Fetchit, is sometimes reviled because he was often called upon to play stereotypically lazy, illiterate, and/or simple-minded characters in films. Of the 124 films he appeared in, he received screen credit in at least 77, an unusual feat for an African-American bit player. Willie Best appeared in more than one hundred films of the 1930s and 1940s. Although several sources state that for years he was billed only as “Sleep n' Eat,” Best received credit under this moniker instead of his real name in only six movies: his first film as a bit player (Harold Lloyd's Feet First) and in Up Pops the Devil (1931), The Monster Walks (1932), Kentucky Kernels and West of the Pecos (both 1934), and Murder on a Honeymoon (1935). Best was first loved as a great clown, then later in the 20th century reviled and pitied, before being forgotten in the history of film. Hal Roach called him one of the greatest talents he had ever met. Comedian Bob Hope similarly acclaimed him as “the best actor I know,” while the two were working together in 1940 on The Ghost Breakers. As a supporting actor, Best, like many black actors of his era, was regularly cast in domestic worker or service-oriented roles (though a few times he played the role echoing his previous occupation as a private chauffeur). He was often seen making a brief comic turn as a hotel, airline or train porter, as well as an elevator operator, custodian, butler, valet, waiter, deliveryman, and at least once as a launch pilot (in the 1939 movie Mr. Moto in Danger Island). Willie Best received screen credit most of the time, which was unusual for “bit players,” most in the 1930s and '40s were not accorded due credit. This also happened to white actors in small roles, but black actors were not credited even when their roles were larger. In more than 80 of his movies, he was given a proper character name (as opposed to simple descriptions such as “room service waiter” or “shoe-shine boy”), beginning with his second film. Best played “Chattanooga Brown” in two Charlie Chan films —The Red Dragon in 1945 and Dangerous Money in 1946. He also played the character of “Hipp” in three of RKO’s six Scattergood Baines films with Guy Kibbee: Scattergood Baines (1941), Scattergood Survives a Murder (1942), and Cinderella Swings It in 1943. (Actor Paul White, who played a young version of Best’s “Hipp” in the first film, went on to play “Hipp” in the next three films. Best returned to the role in the last two.) After a drug arrest ended his film career, he worked in television for a while and became known to early TV audiences as “Charlie the Elevator Operator” on CBS's My Little Margie, from 1953 to 1955. He also played Willie, the house servant, handyman and close friend of the title character of ABC’s The Trouble with Father, for its entire run from 1950 to 1955.

Photos of

Willie Best

Photos ( 3 Photos

Filmography of

Willie Best

Found 106 Movies in total

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 2004

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

Self (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1975

Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy

Charlie (archive footage) ( Actor )

... 1962

Ellis in Freedomland

Male Model ( Actor )

... 1952

South of Caliente

Willie, Stable Boy ( Actor )

... 1951

The Shanghai Chest

Willie Best ( Actor )

... 1948

Half Past Midnight

Andy Jones ( Actor )

... 1948

The Red Stallion

Jackson ( Actor )

... 1947

Suddenly It's Spring

Porter on Train ( Actor )

... 1947

Dangerous Money

Chattanooga Brown ( Actor )

... 1946

... 1946

The Face of Marble

Shadrach ( Actor )

... 1946

She Wouldn't Say Yes

Porter (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1945

Hold That Blonde!

Willie Shelley ( Actor )

... 1945

The Red Dragon

Chattanooga Brown ( Actor )

... 1945

Pillow to Post

Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter ( Actor )

... 1945

... 1945

Music for Millions

Red Cap (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1944

The Mark of the Whistler

Men's Room Attendant (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1944

The Girl Who Dared

Woodrow ( Actor )

... 1944

... 1944

Home in Indiana

Mo' Rum (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1944

Thank Your Lucky Stars

Dancer in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

The Kansan

Bones ( Actor )

... 1943

Dixie

Steward (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

Cabin in the Sky

Second Idea Man ( Actor )

... 1943

Cinderella Swings It

Hipp ( Actor )

... 1943

The Powers Girl

Men's Room Attendant (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1943

The Hidden Hand

Eustis, the chauffeur ( Actor )

... 1942

... 1942

Busses Roar

Sunshine ( Actor )

... 1942

A-Haunting We Will Go

Waiter ( Actor )

... 1942

Maisie Gets Her Man

Sam (Uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1942

Juke Girl

Jo-Mo ( Actor )

... 1942

Whispering Ghosts

Euclid White Brown ( Actor )

... 1942

... 1941

Nothing But the Truth

Samuel ( Actor )

... 1941

The Smiling Ghost

Clarence ( Actor )

... 1941

Highway West

Bub Wellington ( Actor )

... 1941

Kisses for Breakfast

Arnold ( Actor )

... 1941

The Lady from Cheyenne

George ( Actor )

... 1941

Scattergood Baines

Hipp ( Actor )

... 1941

Road Show

Willie ( Actor )

... 1941

Flight from Destiny

George ( Actor )

... 1941

High Sierra

Algernon ( Actor )

... 1941

Who Killed Aunt Maggie?

Andrew ( Actor )

... 1940

Money and the Woman

George Washington Jones ( Actor )

... 1940

The Ghost Breakers

Alex ( Actor )

... 1940

Blondie on a Budget

Newsboy (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1940

I Take This Woman

Sambo ( Actor )

... 1940

Slightly Honorable

Art, Elevator Operator ( Actor )

... 1939

Private Detective

Norton's Valet ( Actor )

... 1939

The Covered Trailer

Baltimore ( Actor )

... 1939

Blondie Brings Up Baby

Hotel Janitor (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1939

At the Circus

Redcap (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1939

Blackmail

Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1939

Way Down South

Chimney Sweep ( Actor )

... 1939

Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation

Driver (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1939

Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter

Apollo Johnson ( Actor )

... 1939

Mr. Moto in Danger Island

Launch Pilot ( Actor )

... 1939

The Saint Strikes Back

Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1939

Blondie

Porter ( Actor )

... 1938

Spring Madness

Porter on Train ( Actor )

... 1938

Straight, Place and Show

Hannibal ( Actor )

... 1938

Youth Takes a Fling

George ( Actor )

... 1938

I'm from the City

Train Porter ( Actor )

... 1938

Vivacious Lady

Train Porter ( Actor )

... 1938

Goodbye Broadway

Jughead ( Actor )

... 1938

Merrily We Live

George ( Actor )

... 1938

... 1938

Everybody's Doing It

Jasper - Elevator Operator ( Actor )

... 1938

Crashing Hollywood

Train Porter (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1938

Saturday's Heroes

Sam ( Actor )

... 1937

Super-Sleuth

Warts, Martin's manservant ( Actor )

... 1937

Meet the Missus

Bootblack ( Actor )

... 1937

You Can't Buy Luck

Airline Porter (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1937

Breezing Home

Speed ( Actor )

... 1937

Racing Lady

Brass ( Actor )

... 1937

We Who Are About to Die

Airport Porter (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1937

Night Waitress

Black Pedestrian ( Actor )

... 1936

General Spanky

Henry ( Actor )

... 1936

Thank You, Jeeves!

Drowsy ( Actor )

... 1936

Mummy's Boys

Catfish ( Actor )

... 1936

Down the Stretch

Noah ( Actor )

... 1936

The Green Pastures

Henry - the Angel (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1936

The Bride Walks Out

Smokie ( Actor )

... 1936

Murder on a Bridle Path

'High-Pockets' ( Actor )

... 1936

Two in Revolt

Eph ( Actor )

... 1936

Silly Billies

Excitement ( Actor )

... 1936

Muss 'em Up

Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1936

The Littlest Rebel

James Henry ( Actor )

... 1935

To Beat the Band

Elevator Operator ( Actor )

... 1935

Hot Tip

Apollo ( Actor )

... 1935

Jalna

Sam ( Actor )

... 1935

The Arizonian

Pompey ( Actor )

... 1935

The Nitwits

Sleepy ( Actor )

... 1935

Murder on a Honeymoon

Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat) ( Actor )

... 1935

West of the Pecos

Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat) ( Actor )

... 1934

Kentucky Kernels

Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat) ( Actor )

... 1934

Little Miss Marker

Dizzy Memphis (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1934

The Monster Walks

Exodus ( Actor )

... 1932

The Guilty Generation

Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1931

Up Pops the Devil

Laundryman ( Actor )

... 1931

Virtuous Husband

Luftus ( Actor )

... 1931

Feet First

Janitor ( Actor )

... 1930

Ladies of Leisure

George (uncredited) ( Actor )

... 1930