Willie Best
1913-05-27 ( 111 years old ) in Sunflower, Mississippi, USA

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.

Movies

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years 2004-01-01
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime? 1975-08-06
Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy 1962-12-04
Ellis in Freedomland 1952-06-15
South of Caliente 1951-10-15
The Shanghai Chest 1948-07-11
Half Past Midnight 1948-03-01
The Red Stallion 1947-08-16
Suddenly It's Spring 1947-02-13
Dangerous Money 1946-10-12
The Bride Wore Boots 1946-06-05
The Face of Marble 1946-01-19
She Wouldn't Say Yes 1945-11-29
Hold That Blonde! 1945-11-23
The Red Dragon 1945-08-01
Pillow to Post 1945-06-09
The Monster and the Ape 1945-04-20
Music for Millions 1944-12-18
The Mark of the Whistler 1944-10-09
The Girl Who Dared 1944-08-05
The Adventures of Mark Twain 1944-07-20
Home in Indiana 1944-06-15
Thank Your Lucky Stars 1943-09-25
The Kansan 1943-09-10
Dixie 1943-06-23
Cabin in the Sky 1943-03-24
Cinderella Swings It 1943-01-22
The Powers Girl 1943-01-15
The Hidden Hand 1942-11-07
Scattergood Survives a Murder 1942-10-01
Busses Roar 1942-09-19
A-Haunting We Will Go 1942-08-07
Maisie Gets Her Man 1942-06-01
Juke Girl 1942-05-30
Whispering Ghosts 1942-05-17
The Body Disappears 1941-11-22
Breakdowns of 1941 1941-11-14
Nothing But the Truth 1941-10-10
The Smiling Ghost 1941-09-06
Minstrel Days 1941-09-06
Highway West 1941-08-07
Kisses for Breakfast 1941-07-05
The Lady from Cheyenne 1941-04-11
Scattergood Baines 1941-02-21
Road Show 1941-02-18
Flight from Destiny 1941-02-08
High Sierra 1941-01-23
Who Killed Aunt Maggie? 1940-11-01
Money and the Woman 1940-08-17
The Ghost Breakers 1940-06-21
Blondie on a Budget 1940-02-29
I Take This Woman 1940-02-02
Slightly Honorable 1939-12-22
Private Detective 1939-12-09
The Covered Trailer 1939-11-10
Blondie Brings Up Baby 1939-11-08
At the Circus 1939-10-20
Blackmail 1939-09-08
Way Down South 1939-07-21
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation 1939-07-07
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter 1939-06-17
Mr. Moto in Danger Island 1939-04-07
The Saint Strikes Back 1939-03-08
Blondie 1938-11-30
Spring Madness 1938-11-11
Straight, Place and Show 1938-09-30
Youth Takes a Fling 1938-09-22
I'm from the City 1938-08-05
Vivacious Lady 1938-05-13
Goodbye Broadway 1938-04-01
Merrily We Live 1938-03-04
Gold Is Where You Find It 1938-02-12
Everybody's Doing It 1938-01-14
Crashing Hollywood 1938-01-07
Saturday's Heroes 1937-10-08
The Lady Fights Back 1937-10-01
Mississippi Moods 1937-07-19
Super-Sleuth 1937-07-16
Meet the Missus 1937-06-04
You Can't Buy Luck 1937-04-30
Breezing Home 1937-02-01
Racing Lady 1937-01-12
We Who Are About to Die 1937-01-08
Deep South 1937-01-01
Night Waitress 1936-12-18
General Spanky 1936-12-11
Thank You, Jeeves! 1936-10-04
Mummy's Boys 1936-10-02
Down the Stretch 1936-09-18
The Green Pastures 1936-08-01
The Bride Walks Out 1936-07-10
Murder on a Bridle Path 1936-04-17
Two in Revolt 1936-04-03
Silly Billies 1936-03-20
Muss 'em Up 1936-02-13
The Littlest Rebel 1935-12-27
To Beat the Band 1935-11-23
Hot Tip 1935-08-20
Jalna 1935-08-09
The Arizonian 1935-06-27
The Nitwits 1935-06-07
Hit and Rum 1935-04-25
Raised and Called 1935-03-22
Murder on a Honeymoon 1935-02-22
Horse Heir 1935-02-01
West of the Pecos 1934-12-27
Kentucky Kernels 1934-11-02
Little Miss Marker 1934-06-01
The Monster Walks 1932-02-07
The Guilty Generation 1931-11-19
Up Pops the Devil 1931-05-19
Virtuous Husband 1931-04-12
Feet First 1930-10-30
Ladies of Leisure 1930-04-05

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