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Willie Best
Acting
Biography
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 “Sl…
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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.
Biography expanded
BODY OF WORK
Willie Best's Filmography
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TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
as Self (archive footage)
Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel
as Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
as Self (archive footage)
Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy
as Charlie (archive footage)
Meet the O'Briens
as Willie
Ellis in Freedomland
as Male Model
South of Caliente
as Willie, Stable Boy
The Shanghai Chest
as Willie Best
Half Past Midnight
as Andy Jones
The Red Stallion
as Jackson
Suddenly It's Spring
as Porter on Train
Dangerous Money
as Chattanooga Brown
The Bride Wore Boots
as Joe
The Face of Marble
as Shadrach
She Wouldn't Say Yes
as Porter (uncredited)
Hold That Blonde!
as Willie Shelley
The Red Dragon
as Chattanooga Brown
Pillow to Post
as Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter
The Monster and the Ape
as Flash
Music for Millions
as Red Cap (uncredited)
The Mark of the Whistler
as Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
The Girl Who Dared
as Woodrow
The Adventures of Mark Twain
as Butler
Home in Indiana
as Mo' Rum (uncredited)
Thank Your Lucky Stars
as Soldier in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)
The Kansan
as Bones
Dixie
as Steward (uncredited)
Cabin in the Sky
as Second Idea Man
Cinderella Swings It
as Hipp
The Powers Girl
as Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
The Hidden Hand
as Eustis, the chauffeur
Scattergood Survives a Murder
as Hipp
Busses Roar
as Sunshine
A-Haunting We Will Go
as Waiter
Maisie Gets Her Man
as Sam (Uncredited)
Juke Girl
as Jo-Mo
Whispering Ghosts
as Euclid White Brown
The Body Disappears
as Willie
Breakdowns of 1941
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Nothing but the Truth
as Samuel
The Smiling Ghost
as Clarence
No Poster
Minstrel Days
as Singer
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company "B"
as Hot-Breath Harry (voice) (uncredited)
Highway West
as Bub Wellington
Kisses for Breakfast
as Arnold
The Lady from Cheyenne
as George
Scattergood Baines
as Hipp
Road Show
as Willie
Flight from Destiny
as George
High Sierra
as Algernon
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
as Andrew
Money and the Woman
as George Washington Jones
The Ghost Breakers
as Alex
Blondie on a Budget
as Newsboy (uncredited)
I Take This Woman
as Sambo
Slightly Honorable
as Art, Elevator Operator
Private Detective
as Norton's Valet
The Covered Trailer
as Baltimore
Blondie Brings Up Baby
as Hotel Janitor (uncredited)
At the Circus
as Redcap (uncredited)
Blackmail
as Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited)
Way Down South
as Chimney Sweep
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
as Driver (uncredited)
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter
as Apollo Johnson
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
as Launch Pilot
The Saint Strikes Back
as Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited)
Blondie
as Porter
Spring Madness
as Porter on Train
Straight, Place and Show
as Hannibal
Youth Takes a Fling
as George
I'm from the City
as Train Porter
Vivacious Lady
as Porter
Goodbye Broadway
as Jughead
Merrily We Live
as George
Gold Is Where You Find It
as Joshua
Everybody's Doing It
as Jasper - Elevator Operator
Crashing Hollywood
as Train Porter (uncredited)
Saturday's Heroes
as Sam
No Poster
The Lady Fights Back
as McTavish
No Poster
Mississippi Moods
Super-Sleuth
as Warts, Martin's manservant
Meet the Missus
as Bootblack
You Can't Buy Luck
as Airline Porter (uncredited)
Breezing Home
as Speed
Racing Lady
as Brass
We Who Are About to Die
as Airport Porter (uncredited)
Deep South
Night Waitress
as Black Pedestrian
General Spanky
as Henry
Thank You, Jeeves!
as Drowsy
Mummy's Boys
as Catfish
Down the Stretch
as Noah
The Green Pastures
as Henry - the Angel (uncredited)
The Bride Walks Out
as Smokie
Murder on a Bridle Path
as 'High-Pockets'
Two in Revolt
as Eph
Silly Billies
as Excitement
Muss 'em Up
as Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited)
The Littlest Rebel
as James Henry
To Beat the Band
as Elevator Operator
Hot Tip
as Apollo
Jalna
as Sam
The Arizonian
as Pompey
The Nitwits
as Sleepy
No Poster
Hit and Rum
as Shoe Shine Man (uncredited)
No Poster
Raised and Called
Murder on a Honeymoon
as Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
No Poster
Horse Heir
West of the Pecos
as Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Kentucky Kernels
as Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Little Miss Marker
as Dizzy Memphis (uncredited)
The Monster Walks
as Exodus (as Sleep n' Eat)
The Guilty Generation
as Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited)
Up Pops the Devil
as Laundryman
Virtuous Husband
as Luftus
Feet First
as Janitor
Ladies of Leisure
as George (uncredited)