Willie Best
Acting • Born 1913-05-27 – Died 1962-11-27
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.
Filmography
120 credits
Ellis in Freedomland
Movie • 1952
Male Model
Blondie
Movie • 1938
Porter
Blondie Brings Up Baby
Movie • 1939
Hotel Janitor (uncredited)
Scattergood Survives a Murder
Movie • 1942
Hipp
Cinderella Swings It
Movie • 1943
Hipp
The Covered Trailer
Movie • 1939
Baltimore
High Sierra
Movie • 1941
Algernon
Feet First
Movie • 1930
Janitor
The Ghost Breakers
Movie • 1940
Alex
Hit and Rum
Movie • 1935
Shoe Shine Man (uncredited)
A-Haunting We Will Go
Movie • 1942
Waiter
The Littlest Rebel
Movie • 1935
James Henry
The Red Dragon
Movie • 1945
Chattanooga Brown
Dangerous Money
Movie • 1946
Chattanooga Brown
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter
Movie • 1939
Apollo Johnson
Murder on a Bridle Path
Movie • 1936
'High-Pockets'
Highway West
Movie • 1941
Bub Wellington
The Smiling Ghost
Movie • 1941
Clarence
The Hidden Hand
Movie • 1942
Eustis, the chauffeur
Little Miss Marker
Movie • 1934
Dizzy Memphis (uncredited)
Murder on a Honeymoon
Movie • 1935
Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Cabin in the Sky
Movie • 1943
Second Idea Man
The Face of Marble
Movie • 1946
Shadrach
Nothing but the Truth
Movie • 1941
Samuel
Whispering Ghosts
Movie • 1942
Euclid White Brown
Juke Girl
Movie • 1942
Jo-Mo
Maisie Gets Her Man
Movie • 1942
Sam (Uncredited)
Busses Roar
Movie • 1942
Sunshine
She Wouldn't Say Yes
Movie • 1945
Porter (uncredited)
Pillow to Post
Movie • 1945
Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter
The Girl Who Dared
Movie • 1944
Woodrow
Road Show
Movie • 1941
Willie
The Lady from Cheyenne
Movie • 1941
George
Super-Sleuth
Movie • 1937
Warts, Martin's manservant
Down the Stretch
Movie • 1936
Noah
Kisses for Breakfast
Movie • 1941
Arnold
The Bride Wore Boots
Movie • 1946
Joe
The Monster and the Ape
Movie • 1945
Flash
Raised and Called
Movie • 1935
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
Movie • 1940
Andrew
Home in Indiana
Movie • 1944
Mo' Rum (uncredited)
Goodbye Broadway
Movie • 1938
Jughead
Money and the Woman
Movie • 1940
George Washington Jones
Muss 'em Up
Movie • 1936
Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited)
Merrily We Live
Movie • 1938
George
Gold Is Where You Find It
Movie • 1938
Joshua
Meet the Missus
Movie • 1937
Bootblack
Saturday's Heroes
Movie • 1937
Sam
The Red Stallion
Movie • 1947
Jackson
Deep South
Movie • 1937
The Lady Fights Back
Movie • 1937
McTavish
The Powers Girl
Movie • 1943
Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
Youth Takes a Fling
Movie • 1938
George
We Who Are About to Die
Movie • 1937
Airport Porter (uncredited)
Dixie
Movie • 1943
Steward (uncredited)
Hold That Blonde!
Movie • 1945
Willie Shelley
To Beat the Band
Movie • 1935
Elevator Operator
Up Pops the Devil
Movie • 1931
Laundryman
Everybody's Doing It
Movie • 1938
Jasper - Elevator Operator
At the Circus
Movie • 1939
Redcap (uncredited)
Two in Revolt
Movie • 1936
Eph
Mummy's Boys
Movie • 1936
Catfish
Spring Madness
Movie • 1938
Porter on Train
The Nitwits
Movie • 1935
Sleepy
Kentucky Kernels
Movie • 1934
Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Horse Heir
Movie • 1935
The Saint Strikes Back
Movie • 1939
Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited)
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
Movie • 1939
Launch Pilot
Way Down South
Movie • 1939
Chimney Sweep
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
Movie • 1939
Driver (uncredited)
South of Caliente
Movie • 1951
Willie, Stable Boy
Slightly Honorable
Movie • 1939
Art, Elevator Operator
The Bride Walks Out
Movie • 1936
Smokie
Blackmail
Movie • 1939
Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited)
Jalna
Movie • 1935
Sam
Racing Lady
Movie • 1937
Brass
You Can't Buy Luck
Movie • 1937
Airline Porter (uncredited)
Night Waitress
Movie • 1936
Black Pedestrian
Crashing Hollywood
Movie • 1938
Train Porter (uncredited)
Music for Millions
Movie • 1944
Red Cap (uncredited)
Ladies of Leisure
Movie • 1930
George (uncredited)
Blondie on a Budget
Movie • 1940
Newsboy (uncredited)
I Take This Woman
Movie • 1940
Sambo
Suddenly It's Spring
Movie • 1947
Porter on Train
The Green Pastures
Movie • 1936
Henry - the Angel (uncredited)
West of the Pecos
Movie • 1934
Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Thank You, Jeeves!
Movie • 1936
Drowsy
The Mark of the Whistler
Movie • 1944
Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
Breakdowns of 1941
Movie • 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
Hot Tip
Movie • 1935
Apollo
I'm from the City
Movie • 1938
Train Porter
The Arizonian
Movie • 1935
Pompey
General Spanky
Movie • 1936
Henry
Mississippi Moods
Movie • 1937
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Movie • 1943
Soldier in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)
Vivacious Lady
Movie • 1938
Porter
Silly Billies
Movie • 1936
Excitement
The Monster Walks
Movie • 1932
Exodus (as Sleep n' Eat)
The Kansan
Movie • 1943
Bones
Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy
Movie • 1962
Charlie (archive footage)
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
Movie • 2004
Self (archive footage)
Straight, Place and Show
Movie • 1938
Hannibal
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Movie • 1975
Self (archive footage)
The Shanghai Chest
Movie • 1948
Willie Best
Breezing Home
Movie • 1937
Speed
Half Past Midnight
Movie • 1948
Andy Jones
Flight from Destiny
Movie • 1941
George
The Adventures of Mark Twain
Movie • 1944
Butler
Scattergood Baines
Movie • 1941
Hipp
Private Detective
Movie • 1939
Norton's Valet
Minstrel Days
Movie • 1941
Singer
Virtuous Husband
Movie • 1931
Luftus
The Guilty Generation
Movie • 1931
Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited)
The Body Disappears
Movie • 1941
Willie
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company "B"
Movie • 1941
Hot-Breath Harry (voice) (uncredited)
Meet the O'Briens
Movie • 1954
Willie
My Little Margie
TV • 1952
Racket Squad
TV • 1951
The Stu Erwin Show
TV • 1950
Willie
Waterfront
TV • 1954
Billy Slocum