Willie Best
- Teen actor
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.
Acted in
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
2004
as Self (archive footage)
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
1975
as Self (archive footage)
Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy
1962
as Charlie (archive footage)
Waterfront
1954
as Billy Slocum
My Little Margie
1952
Ellis in Freedomland
1952
as Male Model
South of Caliente
1951
as Willie, Stable Boy
Racket Squad
1951
The Stu Erwin Show
1950
as Willie
The Shanghai Chest
1948
as Willie Best
Half Past Midnight
1948
as Andy Jones
The Red Stallion
1947
as Jackson
Suddenly It's Spring
1947
as Porter on Train
Dangerous Money
1946
as Chattanooga Brown
The Bride Wore Boots
1946
as Joe
The Face of Marble
1946
as Shadrach
She Wouldn't Say Yes
1945
as Porter
Hold That Blonde!
1945
as Willie Shelley
The Red Dragon
1945
as Chattanooga Brown
Pillow to Post
1945
as Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter
The Monster and the Ape
1945
as Flash
Music for Millions
1944
as Red Cap (uncredited)
The Mark of the Whistler
1944
as Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
The Girl Who Dared
1944
as Woodrow
The Adventures of Mark Twain
1944
as Butler
Home in Indiana
1944
as Mo' Rum (uncredited)
Thank Your Lucky Stars
1943
as Soldier in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)
The Kansan
1943
as Bones
Dixie
1943
as Stewart
Cabin in the Sky
1943
as Second Idea Man
Cinderella Swings It
1943
as Hipp
The Powers Girl
1943
as Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
The Hidden Hand
1942
as Eustis, the chauffeur
Scattergood Survives a Murder
1942
as Hipp
Busses Roar
1942
as Sunshine
A-Haunting We Will Go
1942
as Waiter
Maisie Gets Her Man
1942
as Sam (Uncredited)
Juke Girl
1942
as Jo-Mo
Whispering Ghosts
1942
as Euclid White Brown
The Body Disappears
1941
as Willie
Breakdowns of 1941
1941
as Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Nothing But the Truth
1941
as Samuel
The Smiling Ghost
1941
as Clarence
Minstrel Days
1941
as Singer
Highway West
1941
as Bub Wellington
Kisses for Breakfast
1941
as Arnold
The Lady from Cheyenne
1941
as George
Scattergood Baines
1941
as Hipp
Road Show
1941
as Willie
Flight from Destiny
1941
as George
High Sierra
1941
as Algernon
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
1940
as Andrew
Money and the Woman
1940
as George Washington Jones
The Ghost Breakers
1940
as Alex
Blondie on a Budget
1940
as Newsboy (uncredited)
I Take This Woman
1940
as Sambo
Slightly Honorable
1939
as Art, Elevator Operator
Private Detective
1939
as Norton's Valet
The Covered Trailer
1939
as Baltimore
Blondie Brings Up Baby
1939
as Hotel Janitor (uncredited)
At the Circus
1939
as Redcap (uncredited)
Blackmail
1939
as Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited)
Way Down South
1939
as Chimney Sweep
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
1939
as Driver (uncredited)
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter
1939
as Apollo Johnson
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
1939
as Launch Pilot
The Saint Strikes Back
1939
as Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited)
Blondie
1938
as Porter
Spring Madness
1938
as Porter on Train
Straight, Place and Show
1938
as Hannibal
Youth Takes a Fling
1938
as George
I'm from the City
1938
as Train Porter
Vivacious Lady
1938
as Porter
Goodbye Broadway
1938
as Jughead
Merrily We Live
1938
as George
Gold Is Where You Find It
1938
as Joshua
Everybody's Doing It
1938
as Jasper - Elevator Operator
Crashing Hollywood
1938
as Train Porter (uncredited)
Saturday's Heroes
1937
as Sam
The Lady Fights Back
1937
as McTavish
Mississippi Moods
1937
Super-Sleuth
1937
as Warts, Martin's manservant
Meet the Missus
1937
as Bootblack
You Can't Buy Luck
1937
as Airline Porter (uncredited)
Breezing Home
1937
as Speed
Racing Lady
1937
as Brass
We Who Are About to Die
1937
as Airport Porter (uncredited)
Deep South
1937
Night Waitress
1936
as Black Pedestrian
General Spanky
1936
as Henry
Thank You, Jeeves!
1936
as Drowsy
Mummy's Boys
1936
as Catfish
Down the Stretch
1936
as Noah
The Green Pastures
1936
as Henry - the Angel (uncredited)
The Bride Walks Out
1936
as Smokie
Murder on a Bridle Path
1936
as 'High-Pockets'
Two in Revolt
1936
as Eph
Silly Billies
1936
as Excitement
Muss 'em Up
1936
as Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited)
The Littlest Rebel
1935
as James Henry
To Beat the Band
1935
as Elevator Operator
Hot Tip
1935
as Apollo
Jalna
1935
as Sam
The Arizonian
1935
as Pompey
The Nitwits
1935
as Sleepy
Hit and Rum
1935
as Shoe Shine Man (uncredited)
Raised and Called
1935
Murder on a Honeymoon
1935
as Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Horse Heir
1935
West of the Pecos
1934
as Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Kentucky Kernels
1934
as Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Little Miss Marker
1934
as Dizzy Memphis (uncredited)
The Monster Walks
1932
as Exodus
The Guilty Generation
1931
as Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited)
Up Pops the Devil
1931
as Laundryman
Virtuous Husband
1931
as Luftus
Feet First
1930
as Janitor
Ladies of Leisure
1930
as George (uncredited)