Willie Best
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- May 27, 1913
- Died
- November 27, 1962 (aged 49)
- Birthplace
- Sunflower, Mississippi, USA
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 “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.
Known For
Photos
Filmography
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Movie · as Self (archive footage)
Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy
Movie · as Charlie (archive footage)
Meet the O'Briens
Movie · as Willie
Waterfront
TV · as Billy Slocum · 81 eps
Ellis in Freedomland
Movie · as Male Model
My Little Margie
TV · 1 ep
South of Caliente
Movie · as Willie, Stable Boy
Racket Squad
TV · 1 ep
The Stu Erwin Show
TV · as Willie · 129 eps
The Shanghai Chest
Movie · as Willie Best
Half Past Midnight
Movie · as Andy Jones
The Red Stallion
Movie · as Jackson
Suddenly It's Spring
Movie · as Porter on Train
Dangerous Money
Movie · as Chattanooga Brown
The Face of Marble
Movie · as Shadrach
The Bride Wore Boots
Movie · as Joe
The Red Dragon
Movie · as Chattanooga Brown
She Wouldn't Say Yes
Movie · as Porter (uncredited)
Pillow to Post
Movie · as Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter
The Monster and the Ape
Movie · as Flash
Hold That Blonde!
Movie · as Willie Shelley
The Girl Who Dared
Movie · as Woodrow
Home in Indiana
Movie · as Mo' Rum (uncredited)
Music for Millions
Movie · as Red Cap (uncredited)
The Mark of the Whistler
Movie · as Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
The Adventures of Mark Twain
Movie · as Butler
Cinderella Swings It
Movie · as Hipp
Cabin in the Sky
Movie · as Second Idea Man
The Powers Girl
Movie · as Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
Dixie
Movie · as Steward (uncredited)
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Movie · as Soldier in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)
The Kansan
Movie · as Bones
Scattergood Survives a Murder
Movie · as Hipp
A-Haunting We Will Go
Movie · as Waiter
The Hidden Hand
Movie · as Eustis, the chauffeur
Whispering Ghosts
Movie · as Euclid White Brown
Juke Girl
Movie · as Jo-Mo
Maisie Gets Her Man
Movie · as Sam (Uncredited)
Busses Roar
Movie · as Sunshine
High Sierra
Movie · as Algernon
Highway West
Movie · as Bub Wellington
The Smiling Ghost
Movie · as Clarence
Nothing but the Truth
Movie · as Samuel
Road Show
Movie · as Willie
The Lady from Cheyenne
Movie · as George
Kisses for Breakfast
Movie · as Arnold
Breakdowns of 1941
Movie · as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Flight from Destiny
Movie · as George
Scattergood Baines
Movie · as Hipp
Minstrel Days
Movie · as Singer
The Body Disappears
Movie · as Willie
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company "B"
Movie · as Hot-Breath Harry (voice) (uncredited)
The Ghost Breakers
Movie · as Alex
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
Movie · as Andrew
Money and the Woman
Movie · as George Washington Jones
Blondie on a Budget
Movie · as Newsboy (uncredited)
I Take This Woman
Movie · as Sambo
Blondie Brings Up Baby
Movie · as Hotel Janitor (uncredited)
The Covered Trailer
Movie · as Baltimore
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter
Movie · as Apollo Johnson
At the Circus
Movie · as Redcap (uncredited)
The Saint Strikes Back
Movie · as Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited)
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
Movie · as Launch Pilot
Way Down South
Movie · as Chimney Sweep
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
Movie · as Driver (uncredited)
Slightly Honorable
Movie · as Art, Elevator Operator
Blackmail
Movie · as Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited)
Private Detective
Movie · as Norton's Valet
Blondie
Movie · as Porter
Goodbye Broadway
Movie · as Jughead
Merrily We Live
Movie · as George
Gold Is Where You Find It
Movie · as Joshua
Youth Takes a Fling
Movie · as George
Everybody's Doing It
Movie · as Jasper - Elevator Operator
Spring Madness
Movie · as Porter on Train
Crashing Hollywood
Movie · as Train Porter (uncredited)
I'm from the City
Movie · as Train Porter
Vivacious Lady
Movie · as Porter
Straight, Place and Show
Movie · as Hannibal
Super-Sleuth
Movie · as Warts, Martin's manservant
Meet the Missus
Movie · as Bootblack
Saturday's Heroes
Movie · as Sam
Deep South
Movie
The Lady Fights Back
Movie · as McTavish
We Who Are About to Die
Movie · as Airport Porter (uncredited)
Racing Lady
Movie · as Brass
You Can't Buy Luck
Movie · as Airline Porter (uncredited)
Mississippi Moods
Movie
Breezing Home
Movie · as Speed
Murder on a Bridle Path
Movie · as 'High-Pockets'
Down the Stretch
Movie · as Noah
Muss 'em Up
Movie · as Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited)
Two in Revolt
Movie · as Eph
Mummy's Boys
Movie · as Catfish
The Bride Walks Out
Movie · as Smokie
Night Waitress
Movie · as Black Pedestrian
The Green Pastures
Movie · as Henry - the Angel (uncredited)
Thank You, Jeeves!
Movie · as Drowsy
General Spanky
Movie · as Henry
Silly Billies
Movie · as Excitement
Hit and Rum
Movie · as Shoe Shine Man (uncredited)
The Littlest Rebel
Movie · as James Henry
Murder on a Honeymoon
Movie · as Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Raised and Called
Movie
To Beat the Band
Movie · as Elevator Operator
The Nitwits
Movie · as Sleepy
Horse Heir
Movie
Jalna
Movie · as Sam
Hot Tip
Movie · as Apollo
The Arizonian
Movie · as Pompey
Little Miss Marker
Movie · as Dizzy Memphis (uncredited)
Kentucky Kernels
Movie · as Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
West of the Pecos
Movie · as Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
The Monster Walks
Movie · as Exodus (as Sleep n' Eat)
Up Pops the Devil
Movie · as Laundryman
Virtuous Husband
Movie · as Luftus
The Guilty Generation
Movie · as Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited)
Feet First
Movie · as Janitor
Ladies of Leisure
Movie · as George (uncredited)