Willie Best

William Best (May 27, 1913 – February 27, 1962), known professionally as Willie Best or 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.

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

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, 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." Mitchell Leisen, who directed Willie Best in Suddenly It's Spring, described him as "the most natural actor I've ever seen." 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 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.

He 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. Best and Moreland appeared together in the Chan mystery Shanghai Chest in 1948.

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. In 1951, he was arrested for possession of heroin. The 1951 arraignment resulted in a $250 fine and three years' probation. The adverse publicity hurt Best's career. He made 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 was unconcerned with 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.

He became familiar to early-TV audiences as Charlie, the elevator operator on CBS's My Little Margie, from 1953 to 1955. He played Billy Slocum in the syndicated drama Waterfront (1954). 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 ClarenceCredited 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 1951 South of Caliente Willie

Television Year Title Role Notes 1950–1955 The Stu Erwin Show Willie, The Handyman 30 episodes 1951–1952 Racket Squad Janitor / Cleaning Man 2 episodes 1952–1955 My Little Margie Charlie 21 episodes 1953 Mystery Theater / Mark Saber of the Homicide Squad "The Case of the Invisible Death" Manservant / Corpus 1954–1955 Waterfront Billy Slocum / Willie Slocum 18 episodes (final appearance)