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