Willie Best
Known for: Acting
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
Series
Racket Squad
1951
Series
My Little Margie
1952
Series
The Stu Erwin Show
Willie
1950
Series
Waterfront
Billy Slocum
1954
Film
High Sierra
Algernon
1941
Film
Vivacious Lady
Porter
1938
Film
The Ghost Breakers
Alex
1940
Film
Blondie
Porter
1938
Film
At the Circus
Redcap (uncredited)
1939
Bob Hope's World of Comedy
Self - Tribute Montage (archive footage)
1976
Film
Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Self (archive footage)
1975
Film
The Adventures of Mark Twain
Butler
1944
Film
Ladies of Leisure
George (uncredited)
1930
Film
The Littlest Rebel
James Henry
1935
Film
Breakdowns of 1941
Self (archive footage) (uncredited)
1941
Film
Hot Tip
Apollo
1935
Film
Night Waitress
Black Pedestrian
1936
Film
Dixie
Steward (uncredited)
1943
Film
Hold That Blonde!
Willie Shelley
1945
Film
Thank Your Lucky Stars
Soldier in "Ice Cold Katie" Number (uncredited)
1943
Film
TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
Self (archive footage)
2004
Film
Merrily We Live
George
1938
Film
Beyond Tara: The Extraordinary Life of Hattie McDaniel
Self (archive footage)
2001
Film
Murder on a Bridle Path
'High-Pockets'
1936
Film
Super-Sleuth
Warts, Martin's manservant
1937
Film
Cabin in the Sky
Second Idea Man
1943
Film
Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation
Driver (uncredited)
1939
Film
Gold Is Where You Find It
Joshua
1938
Film
The Saint Strikes Back
Algernon, Simon's Butler (Uncredited)
1939
Film
Mummy's Boys
Catfish
1936
Film
Juke Girl
Jo-Mo
1942
Film
Racing Lady
Brass
1937
Film
Thank You, Jeeves!
Drowsy
1936
Film
The Powers Girl
Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
1943
Film
The Mark of the Whistler
Men's Room Attendant (uncredited)
1944
Film
Virtuous Husband
Luftus
1931
Film
Murder on a Honeymoon
Willie (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
1935
Film
We Who Are About to Die
Airport Porter (uncredited)
1937
Film
Nothing but the Truth
Samuel
1941
Film
The Shanghai Chest
Willie Best
1948
Film
A-Haunting We Will Go
Waiter
1942
Film
Little Miss Marker
Dizzy Memphis (uncredited)
1934
Film
Mr. Moto in Danger Island
Launch Pilot
1939
Film
Muss 'em Up
Janitor at Spivali's Bar (uncredited)
1936
Film
The Kansan
Bones
1943
Film
Highway West
Bub Wellington
1941
Film
Up Pops the Devil
Laundryman
1931
Film
Blackmail
Bunny - the Janitor (uncredited)
1939
Film
Way Down South
Chimney Sweep
1939
Film
You Can't Buy Luck
Airline Porter (uncredited)
1937
Film
The Red Stallion
Jackson
1947
Film
I Take This Woman
Sambo
1940
Film
Music for Millions
Red Cap (uncredited)
1944
Film
Everybody's Doing It
Jasper - Elevator Operator
1938
Film
Blondie Brings Up Baby
Hotel Janitor (uncredited)
1939
Film
The Hidden Hand
Eustis, the chauffeur
1942
Film
Meet the Missus
Bootblack
1937
Film
The Bride Walks Out
Smokie
1936
Film
The Smiling Ghost
Clarence
1941
Film
She Wouldn't Say Yes
Porter (uncredited)
1945
Film
Goodbye Broadway
Jughead
1938
Film
The Lady from Cheyenne
George
1941
Film
Ellis in Freedomland
Male Model
1952
Film
Feet First
Janitor
1930
Film
The Body Disappears
Willie
1941
Film
The Arizonian
Pompey
1935
Film
The Nitwits
Sleepy
1935
Film
Jalna
Sam
1935
Film
The Bride Wore Boots
Joe
1946
Film
Money and the Woman
George Washington Jones
1940
Film
General Spanky
Henry
1936
Film
The Green Pastures
Henry - the Angel (uncredited)
1936
Film
Silly Billies
Excitement
1936
Film
Home in Indiana
Mo' Rum (uncredited)
1944
Film
Blondie on a Budget
Newsboy (uncredited)
1940
Film
Kentucky Kernels
Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
1934
Film
Spring Madness
Porter on Train
1938
Film
Flight from Destiny
George
1941
Film
Busses Roar
Sunshine
1942
Film
Suddenly It's Spring
Porter on Train
1947
Film
Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter
Apollo Johnson
1939
Hit and Rum
Shoe Shine Man (uncredited)
1935
Film
The Face of Marble
Shadrach
1946
Film
The Girl Who Dared
Woodrow
1944
Film
Scattergood Survives a Murder
Hipp
1942
Film
Straight, Place and Show
Hannibal
1938
Film
Slightly Honorable
Art, Elevator Operator
1939
Horse Heir
1935
Film
West of the Pecos
Jonah (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
1934
Film
The Monster and the Ape
Flash
1945
Film
Crashing Hollywood
Train Porter (uncredited)
1938
Film
The Covered Trailer
Baltimore
1939
Film
Maisie Gets Her Man
Sam (Uncredited)
1942
Film
Dangerous Money
Chattanooga Brown
1946
Film
Private Detective
Norton's Valet
1939
Film
Scattergood Baines
Hipp
1941
Film
Whispering Ghosts
Euclid White Brown
1942
Film
The Monster Walks
Exodus (as Sleep n' Eat)
1932
Film
Kisses for Breakfast
Arnold
1941
Film
Two in Revolt
Eph
1936
Film
Breezing Home
Speed
1937
Film
Pillow to Post
Lucille, Colonial Auto Court Porter
1945
The Lady Fights Back
McTavish
1937
Film
Saturday's Heroes
Sam
1937
Film
Youth Takes a Fling
George
1938
Film
Half Past Midnight
Andy Jones
1948
Film
The Red Dragon
Chattanooga Brown
1945
Mississippi Moods
1937
Film
South of Caliente
Willie, Stable Boy
1951
Film
The Guilty Generation
Club Merlin Doorman (uncredited)
1931
Film
Cinderella Swings It
Hipp
1943
Film
Who Killed Aunt Maggie?
Andrew
1940
Film
Down the Stretch
Noah
1936
Film
Harold Lloyd's World of Comedy
Charlie (archive footage)
1962
Film
Road Show
Willie
1941
Film
Meet the O'Briens
Willie
1954
Film
To Beat the Band
Elevator Operator
1935
Film
I'm from the City
Train Porter
1938
Film
Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company "B"
Hot-Breath Harry (voice) (uncredited)
1941
Minstrel Days
Singer
1941
Film
Deep South
1937
Raised and Called
1935