Willie Best

This article is about the actor. For other uses, see William Best.

William Best (May 27, 1913^[1][2][3] – February 27, 1962), known professionally as Willie Best or Sleep 'n' Eat,^[4] was an American television and film actor.^[5][6]

Willie Best
Best in Dangerous Money (1946)
Born	William Best (1913-05-27)May 27, 1913 Sunflower, Mississippi, U.S.
Died	February 27, 1962(1962-02-27) (aged 48) Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Resting place	Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Sleep 'n' Eat
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1930–1955

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^{[citation needed]} 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.

Stage

A native of Sunflower, Mississippi, Best reached Hollywood as a chauffeur for a vacationing couple. He decided to stay in the region and began his performing career with a traveling show in southern California. He was regularly hired as a character actor in Hollywood films after a talent scout discovered him on stage.

Motion pictures

Best in a photo from Film Star Who's Who (1938)

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). He thereafter usually received credit as "Willie Best" or "William Best".

In his early films Best clearly imitated Stepin Fetchit,^{[citation needed]} delivering dialogue slowly in a thick and almost incoherent dialect, and reacting to things with a pop-eyed stare and slack-jawed amazement or bewilderment. Best later refined his screen character, abandoning the Fetchit mannerisms but retaining his natural comic reactions and dialect. In reality he was far from the slow-witted clown he often portrayed; he was well aware of being typecast as "lazy darkey" characters: "I often think about these roles I have to play. Most of them are pretty broad. Sometimes I tell the director and he cuts out the bad parts... But what's an actor going to do? Either you do it or get out."^[7] Mitchell Leisen, who directed Willie Best in Suddenly It's Spring, described him as "the most natural actor I've ever seen."^[8] Comedian Bob Hope similarly acclaimed him as "the best actor I know",^[9] while the two were working together in 1940 on The Ghost Breakers.^[10]

Dudley Dickerson (left) and Best in Dangerous Money (1946)

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 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 1940s 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.

Mantan Moreland, one of Willie Best's contemporaries, played "Birmingham Brown" the chauffeur in the Charlie Chan films. When Moreland took temporary leave of the series to tour in vaudeville, Willie Best took over Moreland's role (as "Chattanooga Brown") in The Red Dragon in 1945 and Dangerous Money in 1946.

Arrests

Best was fond of using recreational narcotics, which resulted in at least two well-publicized arrests. In 1942 he was arrested for possession of marijuana,^[11] and in 1951 he was arrested for possession of heroin.^[12] The 1951 arraignment resulted in a $250 fine and three years' probation. The adverse publicity hurt Best's career; he would make no further films after the 1951 Roy Rogers western South of Caliente.

Television

Willie Best was rescued from professional oblivion by veteran producer Hal Roach, who regarded Best as one of the greatest talents he had ever met. Roach didn't care about Best's personal life as long as Best remained professional in acting roles. Best worked almost exclusively for Roach in 1950s television. He played Willie, the house servant/handyman and close friend of the title character of the Stu Erwin sitcom The Trouble with Father, for its entire run from 1950 to 1955.^[13] He became familiar to early-TV audiences as Charlie, the elevator operator on CBS's My Little Margie, from 1953 to 1955.^[14] He also played Billy Slocum in the syndicated drama Waterfront (1954).^[15] Perhaps his most surprising television work was in a Christmas-themed episode of Racket Squad, in which he played a straight character role without comedy or dialect.

Death

Best died on February 27, 1962, at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, of cancer at age 48. He was buried (by the Motion Picture Fund) on March 5, 1962, at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery.

Legacy

Best's "Sleep n' Eat" moniker surfaced again in the 2000 motion picture satire Bamboozled, directed by Spike Lee. In the film a "twenty-first-century minstrel show" is televised starring two African American performers, one of whom (portrayed by Tommy Davidson) plays a character named "Sleep n' Eat". In a nod to Mantan Moreland, his on-stage counterpart is named "Mantan".

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1930	Ladies of Leisure	George - the Elevator Operator	Uncredited
1930	Feet First	Charcoal - Janitor	Credited as Sleep 'n' Eat
1930	Deep South
1931	The Virtuous Husband	Luftus	Alternative title: What Wives Don't Want
1931	Up Pops the Devil	Laundryman	Uncredited
1931	The Guilty Generation	Club Merlin Doorman	Uncredited
1932	The Monster Walks	Exodus	Credited as Sleep 'n' Eat
1932	Disorderly Conduct	Man at Police Station	Uncredited
1934	Little Miss Marker	Dizzy Memphis	Uncredited
1934	Kentucky Kernels	Buckshot	Credited as Sleep 'n' Eat
1934	West of the Pecos	Jonah	Credited as Sleep 'n' Eat
1935	Murder on a Honeymoon	Willie, the Porter	Credited as Sleep 'n' Eat
1935	The Nitwits	Sleepy
1935	The Arizonian	Pompey
1935	Jalna	Sam, the Janitor	Uncredited
1935	Hot Tip	Apollo
1935	Annie Oakley	Second Cook	Uncredited
1935	To Beat the Band	Elevator Operator	Uncredited
1935	The Littlest Rebel	James Henry, a Cary slave
1936	Muss 'Em Up	Janitor at Spivali's Bar	Uncredited
1936	The Lady Consents	Sam	Uncredited
1936	Silly Billies	Excitement	Uncredited
1936	Two in Revolt	Eph
1936	Murder on a Bridle Path	High Pockets
1936	The Bride Walks Out	Smokie – at marriage bureau
1936	The Green Pastures	Henry - the Angel	Uncredited
1936	Down the Stretch	Noah	Credited as William Best
1936	Mummy's Boys	Catfish
1936	Thank You, Jeeves!	Drowsy
1936	Make Way for a Lady	William Townley - Jackson's Chauffeur	Uncredited
1936	General Spanky	Henry
1936	Night Waitress	Cars For Rent attendant	Uncredited
1937	We Who Are About to Die	Airport Porter	Uncredited
1937	Racing Lady	Brass
1937	Criminal Lawyer	Janitor	Uncredited
1937	Breezing Home	Speed	Credited as William Best
1937	You Can't Buy Luck	Airline Porter	Uncredited
1937	Meet the Missus	Mose – Shoe Shine Boy
1937	Super-Sleuth	Warts
1937	Mississippi Moods
1937	The Lady Fights Back	McTavish
1937	Saturday's Heroes	Sam
1937	Deep South		Short film
1938	Crashing Hollywood	Train Porter	Uncredited
1938	Everybody's Doing It	Jasper - Elevator Operator	Uncredited
1938	Gold Is Where You Find It	Joshua
1938	Merrily We Live	George W. Jones
1938	Goodbye Broadway	Jughead
1938	Vivacious Lady	Train Porter
1938	I'm From the City	Train Porter	Uncredited
1938	Youth Takes a Fling	George
1938	Straight Place and Show	Hannibal	Uncredited
1938	Spring Madness	Hotel Porter	Uncredited
1938	Blondie	Porter
1939	The Saint Strikes Back	Algernon	Uncredited
1939	Mr. Moto in Danger Island	Launch Pilot	Uncredited
1939	Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter	Apollo Johnson
1939	Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation	Driver	Uncredited
1939	Way Down South	Chimney Sweep	Uncredited
1939	Blackmail	Bunny - the Janitor	Uncredited
1939	At the Circus	Redcap	Uncredited
1939	Blondie Brings Up Baby	Hotel Janitor	Uncredited
1939	The Covered Trailer	Baltimore
1939	Private Detective	Norton's Valet
1939	Miracle on Main Street	Duke
1939	Slightly Honorable	Art, the Elevator Operator
1940	I Take This Woman	Sambo
1940	Blondie on a Budget	Newspaper Boy	Uncredited
1940	The Ghost Breakers	Alex
1940	Money and the Woman	George Washington Jones, Dave's Servant
1940	Who Killed Aunt Maggie?	Andrew
1941	High Sierra	Algernon
1941	Flight from Destiny	George
1941	The Body Disappears	Willie	Credited as Willie Best
1941	Scattergood Baines	Hipp
1941	The Lady from Cheyenne	George
1941	Kisses for Breakfast	Arnold
1941	Highway West	Bub Wellington
1941	The Smiling Ghost	Clarence	Credited as Willie Best
1941	Nothing But the Truth	Samuel
1941	The Body Disappears	Willie
1942	Whispering Ghosts	Euclid White Brown
1942	Juke Girl	Jo-Mo
1942	Maisie Gets Her Man	Sam, Room Service Waiter	Uncredited
1942	A-Haunting We Will Go	Waiter
1942	Busses Roar	Sunshine
1942	Scattergood Survives a Murder	Hipp
1942	The Hidden Hand	Eustis the Chauffeur
1943	The Powers Girl	Men's Room Attendant	Uncredited
1943	Cinderella Swings It	Hipp
1943	Cabin in the Sky	Second Idea Man
1943	Dixie	Steward	Uncredited
1943	The Kansan	Bones
1943	Thank Your Lucky Stars	Soldier	Uncredited
1944	The Adventures of Mark Twain	George, Twain's Butler	Uncredited
1944	Home in Indiana	Mo' Rum	Uncredited
1944	The Girl Who Dared	Woodrow
1944	The Mark of the Whistler	Men's Room Attendant	Uncredited
1944	Music for Millions	Red Cap	Uncredited
1945	The Monster and the Ape	Flash	Serial
1945	Pillow to Post	Lucille
1945	Hold That Blonde	Willie Shelley
1945	She Wouldn't Say Yes	Porter	Uncredited
1945	The Red Dragon	Chattanooga Brown
1946	The Bride Wore Boots	Joe
1946	The Face of Marble	Piano Delivery Man	Uncredited
1946	Dangerous Money	Chattanooga Brown	Alternative title: Charlie Chan in Dangerous Money
1947	Suddenly, It's Spring	Porter on train
1947	The Red Stallion	Jackson
1948	Half Past Midnight	Andy Jones
1948	Smart Woman	Train Porter	Uncredited
1948	Shanghai Chest	Willie Best, in jail cell	Uncredited
1949	Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters	Willie	Uncredited
1950	High and Dizzy	Wesley	Short
1950-1955	The Stu Erwin Show	Willie, The Handyman	30 episodes
1951	South of Caliente	Willie
1951-1952	Racket Squad	Janitor / Cleaning Man	2 episodes
1953	Mystery Theater. Mark Saber of the Homicide Squad. The Case of the Invisible Death	Manservant / Corpus
1952-1955	My Little Margie	Charlie	21 episodes
1954-1955	Waterfront	Billy Slocum / Willie Slocum	18 episodes, (final appearance)

See also

• Biography portal
• Film portal
• United States portal

• Stepin Fetchit
• Mantan Moreland
• Fred Toones
• Blue Washington
• Blackface

References

1. Cox, James L. (2001). The Mississippi Almanac : The Ultimate Reference on the State, 2001-2002. Yazoo City, MS : Computer Search & Research. ISBN 9780964354524; Reproduced in "Black History... Mississippi Style". The Mississippi Link. March 6, 2002. Retrieved February 4, 2021 via Proquest.
2. Radishofski, Kathryn. "Willie Best (1913-1962), Actor". MississippiEncyclopedia.org. Retrieved February 4, 2021.
3. Ellenburger, Allan (2001). Celebrities in Los Angeles Cemeteries: A Directory. Jefferson, NC ; McFarland & Company. Page 201. ISBN 0-7864-0983-5.
4. Littleton, Darryl (2006). Black Comedians on Black Comedy: How black Americans Taught Us to Laugh. Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 46. ISBN 9781557836809. Retrieved August 5, 2018.
5. "Willie Best - About This Person - Movies & TV - NYTimes.com". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. 2012. Archived from the original on November 4, 2012. Retrieved March 24, 2016.
6. "Movie Review - The Smiling Ghost - Poor Ghost - NYTimes.com". Retrieved March 24, 2016.
7. 1934 interview with Willie Best, quoted in Thomas Cripps, Slow Fade to Black: The Negro in American Film 1900-1942, Oxford University Press, 1977, p. 106.
8. "This Acting Business Is Not Hard to Comedian". The Pittsburgh Courier. April 27, 1946. Page 23. Retrieved February 5, 2021.
9. Harry and Michael Medved, Son of Golden Turkey Awards, p. 28, Angus and Robertson Publishers, Australia, 1986
10. "Movie Review – The Ghost Breakers – THE SCREEN; 'Ghost Breakers,' a Comic Thriller, at Paramount – Spy Pictures at the Rialto and Palace – NYTimes.com". Retrieved March 24, 2016.
11. The Afro-American, "Willie Best, Noted Screen Comedian, Arrested on Narcotics Charge," Sept. 19, 1942, p. 15.
12. Atlanta Daily World, "Willie Best Is Arrested on Narcotics Charge," June 15, 1951, p. 1.
13. Terrace, Vincent. Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2010, McFarland & Company, 2011, pp. 732-733. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
14. Terrace, p. 1109.
15. Terrace, p. 1154.

External links

• Willie Best at IMDb
• Willie Best at AllMovie