Willie Best

Acting •1913-05-27 •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.

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代表作

Silly Billies

1936 · Excitement

Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy

1962 · Charlie (archive footage)

1941 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Gold Is Where You Find It

1938 · Joshua

We Who Are About to Die

1937 · Airport Porter (uncredited)

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全部作品

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years

2004 •Self (archive footage)

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

1975 •Self (archive footage)

Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy

1962 •Charlie (archive footage)

Waterfront

1954 •Billy Slocum

Ellis in Freedomland

1952 •Male Model

My Little Margie

1952

South of Caliente

1951 •Willie, Stable Boy

Racket Squad

1951

The Stu Erwin Show

1950 •Willie

陈查理之上海宝箱

1948 •Willie Best

展开全部作品

Half Past Midnight

1948 •Andy Jones

The Red Stallion

1947 •Jackson

Suddenly It's Spring

1947 •Porter on Train

Dangerous Money

1946 •Chattanooga Brown

The Face of Marble

1946 •Shadrach

皮靴新娘

1946 •Joe

陈查理之红龙

1945 •Chattanooga Brown

She Wouldn't Say Yes

1945 •Porter (uncredited)

Pillow to Post

1945 •Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter

The Monster and the Ape

1945 •Flash

Hold That Blonde!

1945 •Willie Shelley

The Girl Who Dared

1944 •Woodrow

Home in Indiana

1944 •Mo' Rum (uncredited)

Music for Millions

1944 •Red Cap (uncredited)

吹哨人的印记

1944 •Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)

The Adventures of Mark Twain

1944 •Butler

Cinderella Swings It

1943 •Hipp

月宫宝盒

1943 •Second Idea Man

The Powers Girl

1943 •Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)

Dixie

1943 •Steward (uncredited)

幸运之星

1943 •Soldier in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)

堪萨斯州人

1943 •Bones

Scattergood Survives a Murder

1942 •Hipp

真假棺材板

1942 •Waiter

The Hidden Hand

1942 •Eustis, the chauffeur

Whispering Ghosts

1942 •Euclid White Brown

牢狱鸳鸯

1942 •Jo-Mo

Maisie Gets Her Man

1942 •Sam (Uncredited)

巴士轰鸣

1942 •Sunshine

夜困摩天岭

1941 •Algernon

Highway West

1941 •Bub Wellington

The Smiling Ghost

1941 •Clarence

滑头君子

1941 •Samuel

Road Show

1941 •Willie

The Lady from Cheyenne

1941 •George

Kisses for Breakfast

1941 •Arnold

Breakdowns of 1941

1941 •Self (archive footage) (uncredited)

Flight from Destiny

1941 •George

Scattergood Baines

1941 •Hipp

Minstrel Days

1941 •Singer

The Body Disappears

1941 •Willie

布吉伍吉的司号兵

1941 •Hot-Breath Harry (voice) (uncredited)

古堡捉妖记

1940 •Alex

Who Killed Aunt Maggie?

1940 •Andrew

Money and the Woman

1940 •George Washington Jones

Blondie on a Budget

1940 •Newsboy (uncredited)

I Take This Woman

1940 •Sambo

Blondie Brings Up Baby

1939 •Hotel Janitor (uncredited)

The Covered Trailer

1939 •Baltimore

Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter

1939 •Apollo Johnson

At the Circus

1939 •Redcap (uncredited)

The Saint Strikes Back

1939 •Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited)

Mr. Moto in Danger Island

1939 •Launch Pilot

Way Down South

1939 •Chimney Sweep

Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation

1939 •Driver (uncredited)

Slightly Honorable

1939 •Art, Elevator Operator

Blackmail

1939 •Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited)

Private Detective

1939 •Norton's Valet

Blondie

1938 •Porter

Goodbye Broadway

1938 •Jughead

狂人的家庭

1938 •George

Gold Is Where You Find It

1938 •Joshua

Youth Takes a Fling

1938 •George

Everybody's Doing It

1938 •Jasper - Elevator Operator

Spring Madness

1938 •Porter on Train

Crashing Hollywood

1938 •Train Porter (uncredited)

I'm from the City

1938 •Train Porter

活泼的小姐

1938 •Porter

Straight, Place and Show

1938 •Hannibal

Super-Sleuth

1937 •Warts, Martin's manservant

Meet the Missus

1937 •Bootblack

Saturday's Heroes

1937 •Sam

Deep South

1937

The Lady Fights Back

1937 •McTavish

We Who Are About to Die

1937 •Airport Porter (uncredited)

Racing Lady

1937 •Brass

You Can't Buy Luck

1937 •Airline Porter (uncredited)

Mississippi Moods

1937

Breezing Home

1937 •Speed

Murder on a Bridle Path

1936 •'High-Pockets'

Down the Stretch

1936 •Noah

Muss 'em Up

1936 •Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited)

Two in Revolt

1936 •Eph

Mummy's Boys

1936 •Catfish

The Bride Walks Out

1936 •Smokie

Night Waitress

1936 •Black Pedestrian

青草地上

1936 •Henry - the Angel (uncredited)

Thank You, Jeeves!

1936 •Drowsy

General Spanky

1936 •Henry

Silly Billies

1936 •Excitement

Hit and Rum

1935 •Shoe Shine Man (uncredited)

小叛逆

1935 •James Henry

Murder on a Honeymoon

1935 •Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat)

Raised and Called

1935

To Beat the Band

1935 •Elevator Operator

The Nitwits

1935 •Sleepy

Horse Heir

1935

Jalna

1935 •Sam

Hot Tip

1935 •Apollo

The Arizonian

1935 •Pompey

小麻烦

1934 •Dizzy Memphis (uncredited)

肯塔基果仁

1934 •Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)

West of the Pecos

1934 •Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat)

The Monster Walks

1932 •Exodus (as Sleep n' Eat)

Up Pops the Devil

1931 •Laundryman

Virtuous Husband

1931 •Luftus

The Guilty Generation

1931 •Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited)

Feet First

1930 •Janitor

闲花泪

1930 •George (uncredited)