Cast

Willie Best

Acting

Cast

Willie Best

Known for

Acting

Born

1913-05-27

From

Sunflower, Mississippi, USA

Died

1962-11-27

Also known as Sleep 'n' Eat, Sleep 'n Eat, Sleep n' Eat

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.

Willie Best

Willie Best

Biography

Virtuous Husband

Little Miss Marker

Racing Lady

Vivacious Lady

The Ghost Breakers

Ladies of Leisure

Blondie

Merrily We Live

Bob Hope's World of Comedy

High Sierra

Dixie

Horse Heir

Nothing but the Truth

A-Haunting We Will Go

Juke Girl

Night Waitress

Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel

At the Circus

Mississippi Moods

Mr. Moto in Danger Island

Thank You, Jeeves!

Mummy's Boys

Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?

The Bride Walks Out

Hot Tip

Breakdowns of 1941

The Adventures of Mark Twain

Cabin in the Sky

Meet the O'Briens

Thank Your Lucky Stars

The Red Stallion

The Littlest Rebel

Whispering Ghosts

Way Down South

Up Pops the Devil

The Shanghai Chest

Murder on a Honeymoon

General Spanky

The Girl Who Dared

Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation

Silly Billies

Murder on a Bridle Path

Slightly Honorable

Hit and Rum

The Body Disappears

The Hidden Hand

Maisie Gets Her Man

Busses Roar

The Face of Marble

The Kansan

The Powers Girl

Scattergood Survives a Murder

Hold That Blonde!

The Bride Wore Boots

Gold Is Where You Find It

Flight from Destiny

Dangerous Money

Everybody's Doing It

The Green Pastures

Pillow to Post

Half Past Midnight

Blackmail

Road Show

Crashing Hollywood

Money and the Woman

Music for Millions

Super-Sleuth

Kentucky Kernels

The Monster and the Ape

West of the Pecos

Down the Stretch

The Nitwits

The Smiling Ghost

Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter

She Wouldn't Say Yes

The Saint Strikes Back

The Monster Walks