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.
Fotos
Filmes (117)
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
2004 · Self (archive footage)
Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel
2001 · Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975 · Self (archive footage)
Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy
1962 · Charlie (archive footage)
Meet the O'Briens
1954 · Willie
Ellis in Freedomland
1952 · Male Model
South of Caliente
1951 · Willie, Stable Boy
The Shanghai Chest
1948 · Willie Best
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 Bride Wore Boots
1946 · Joe
The Face of Marble
1946 · Shadrach
She Wouldn't Say Yes
1945 · Porter (uncredited)
Hold That Blonde!
1945 · Willie Shelley
The Red Dragon
1945 · Chattanooga Brown
Pillow to Post
1945 · Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter
The Monster and the Ape
1945 · Flash
Music for Millions
1944 · Red Cap (uncredited)
The Mark of the Whistler
1944 · Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
The Girl Who Dared
1944 · Woodrow
The Adventures of Mark Twain
1944 · Butler
Home in Indiana
1944 · Mo' Rum (uncredited)
Thank Your Lucky Stars
1943 · Soldier in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)
The Kansan
1943 · Bones
Dixie
1943 · Steward (uncredited)
Cabin in the Sky
1943 · Second Idea Man
Cinderella Swings It
1943 · Hipp
The Powers Girl
1943 · Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
The Hidden Hand
1942 · Eustis, the chauffeur
Scattergood Survives a Murder
1942 · Hipp
Busses Roar
1942 · Sunshine
A-Haunting We Will Go
1942 · Waiter
Maisie Gets Her Man
1942 · Sam (Uncredited)
Juke Girl
1942 · Jo-Mo
Whispering Ghosts
1942 · Euclid White Brown
The Body Disappears
1941 · Willie
Breakdowns of 1941
1941 · Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Nothing but the Truth
1941 · Samuel
The Smiling Ghost
1941 · Clarence
Minstrel Days
1941 · Singer
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company "B"
1941 · Hot-Breath Harry (voice) (uncredited)
Highway West
1941 · Bub Wellington
Kisses for Breakfast
1941 · Arnold
The Lady from Cheyenne
1941 · George
Scattergood Baines
1941 · Hipp
Road Show
1941 · Willie
Flight from Destiny
1941 · George
High Sierra
1941 · Algernon
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
1940 · Andrew
Money and the Woman
1940 · George Washington Jones
The Ghost Breakers
1940 · Alex
Blondie on a Budget
1940 · Newsboy (uncredited)
I Take This Woman
1940 · Sambo
Slightly Honorable
1939 · Art, Elevator Operator
Private Detective
1939 · Norton's Valet
The Covered Trailer
1939 · Baltimore
Blondie Brings Up Baby
1939 · Hotel Janitor (uncredited)
At the Circus
1939 · Redcap (uncredited)
Blackmail
1939 · Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited)
Way Down South
1939 · Chimney Sweep
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
1939 · Driver (uncredited)
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter
1939 · Apollo Johnson
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
1939 · Launch Pilot
The Saint Strikes Back
1939 · Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited)
Blondie
1938 · Porter
Spring Madness
1938 · Porter on Train
Straight, Place and Show
1938 · Hannibal
Youth Takes a Fling
1938 · George
I'm from the City
1938 · Train Porter
Vivacious Lady
1938 · Porter
Goodbye Broadway
1938 · Jughead
Merrily We Live
1938 · George
Gold Is Where You Find It
1938 · Joshua
Everybody's Doing It
1938 · Jasper - Elevator Operator
Crashing Hollywood
1938 · Train Porter (uncredited)
Saturday's Heroes
1937 · Sam
The Lady Fights Back
1937 · McTavish
Mississippi Moods
1937
Super-Sleuth
1937 · Warts, Martin's manservant
Meet the Missus
1937 · Bootblack
You Can't Buy Luck
1937 · Airline Porter (uncredited)
Breezing Home
1937 · Speed
Racing Lady
1937 · Brass
We Who Are About to Die
1937 · Airport Porter (uncredited)
Deep South
1937
Night Waitress
1936 · Black Pedestrian
General Spanky
1936 · Henry
Thank You, Jeeves!
1936 · Drowsy
Mummy's Boys
1936 · Catfish
Down the Stretch
1936 · Noah
The Green Pastures
1936 · Henry - the Angel (uncredited)
The Bride Walks Out
1936 · Smokie
Murder on a Bridle Path
1936 · 'High-Pockets'
Two in Revolt
1936 · Eph
Silly Billies
1936 · Excitement
Muss 'em Up
1936 · Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited)
The Littlest Rebel
1935 · James Henry
To Beat the Band
1935 · Elevator Operator
Hot Tip
1935 · Apollo
Jalna
1935 · Sam
The Arizonian
1935 · Pompey
The Nitwits
1935 · Sleepy
Hit and Rum
1935 · Shoe Shine Man (uncredited)
Raised and Called
1935
Murder on a Honeymoon
1935 · Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Horse Heir
1935
West of the Pecos
1934 · Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Kentucky Kernels
1934 · Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Little Miss Marker
1934 · Dizzy Memphis (uncredited)
The Monster Walks
1932 · Exodus (as Sleep n' Eat)
The Guilty Generation
1931 · Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited)
Up Pops the Devil
1931 · Laundryman
Virtuous Husband
1931 · Luftus
Feet First
1930 · Janitor
Ladies of Leisure
1930 · George (uncredited)
