Willie Best

Actor

About

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Also Known As

William Best, Sleep 'N' Eat

Birth Place

Mississippi, USA

Born

May 27, 1916

Died

February 27, 1962

Filmography

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I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

South of Caliente (1951)

Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters (1949)

Half Past Midnight (1948)

Smart Woman (1948)

Photos & Videos

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Pillow To Post (1945) -- (Movie Clip) Winifred's Strange And He's My Brother

Music For Millions (1944) -- (Movie Clip) I Don't Talk To Strangers

Biography

Filmography

Cast (Feature Film)

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

I Am Not Your Negro (2016)

South of Caliente (1951)

Jiggs and Maggie in Jackpot Jitters (1949)

Half Past Midnight (1948)

Smart Woman (1948)

Shanghai Chest (1948)

Suddenly, It's Spring (1947)

Porter on train

The Red Stallion (1947)

No Leave, No Love (1946)

Black moving man

The Bride Wore Boots (1946)

Dangerous Money (1946)

Chattanooga Brown

The Face of Marble (1946)

The Red Dragon (1946)

Chattanooga Brown

Music for Millions (1945)

Hold That Blonde (1945)

Pillow to Post (1945)

She Wouldn't Say Yes (1945)

The Monster and the Ape (1945)

The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944)

Home in Indiana (1944)

The Girl Who Dared (1944)

Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943)

The Kansan (1943)

Cabin in the Sky (1943)

Second Idea Man

Cinderella Swings It (1943)

Maisie Gets Her Man (1942)

Juke Girl (1942)

Scattergood Survives a Murder (1942)

Busses Roar (1942)

The Hidden Hand (1942)

Whispering Ghosts (1942)

Euclid White [Brown]

A-Haunting We Will Go (1942)

Road Show (1941)

Kisses for Breakfast (1941)

The Lady from Cheyenne (1941)

The Smiling Ghost (1941)

The Body Disappears (1941)

Scattergood Baines (1941)

Highway West (1941)

Nothing But the Truth (1941)

Flight from Destiny (1941)

High Sierra (1941)

Who Killed Aunt Maggie? (1940)

The Ghost Breakers (1940)

Money and the Woman (1940)

I Take This Woman (1940)

Blondie on a Budget (1940)

Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939)

Miracle on Main Street (1939)

Nancy Drew... Trouble Shooter (1939)

Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939)

Private Detective (1939)

The Covered Trailer (1939)

Slightly Honorable (1939)

Blackmail (1939)

At the Circus (1939)

Gold Is Where You Find It (1938)

I'm from the City (1938)

Vivacious Lady (1938)

Goodbye Broadway (1938)

Everybody's Doing It (1938)

Youth Takes a Fling (1938)

Straight Place and Show (1938)

Spring Madness (1938)

Meet the Missus (1937)

Super-Sleuth (1937)

Racing Lady (1937)

Saturday's Heroes (1937)

The Lady Fights Back (1937)

We Who Are About to Die (1937)

You Can't Buy Luck (1937)

Breezing Home (1937)

The Ex-Mrs. Bradford (1936)

Night Waitress (1936)

Make Way for a Lady (1936)

Thank You, Jeeves! (1936)

Murder on a Bridle Path (1936)

Silly Billies (1936)

The Bride Walks Out (1936)

Mummy's Boys (1936)

Two in Revolt (1936)

Muss 'Em Up (1936)

Down the Stretch (1936)

General Spanky (1936)

Annie Oakley (1935)

The Nitwits (1935)

The Arizonian (1935)

The Littlest Rebel (1935)

To Beat the Band (1935)

Elevator operator

Murder on a Honeymoon (1935)

West of the Pecos (1935)

Little Miss Marker (1934)

Kentucky Kernels (1934)

The Virtuous Husband (1931)

Loftus, the butler

Up Pops the Devil (1931)

Feet First (1930)

Music (Feature Film)

Sepia Cinderella (1947)

Misc. Crew (Short)

Breakdowns of 1941 (1941)

Archival Footage

Life Events

Videos

Pillow To Post (1945) -- (Movie Clip) Winifred's Strange And He's My Brother Ida Lupino is oil well equipment sales gal arriving amid a Southern California military housing crisis, with Anne O’Neal the USO lady, letting herself be mistaken for a military bride, then meeting Mrs. Wingate (Ruth Donnelly) and Lucile (Willie Best), in Pillow To Post, 1945.

Music For Millions (1944) -- (Movie Clip) I Don't Talk To Strangers Playing the heartstrings from the start, director Henry Koster and producer Joe Pasternak in their first picture at MGM, introduce Margaret O’Brien as young “Mike,” not met at the train by her sister (June Allyson), Eddie Dunn the cop, Connie Gilchrist for Traveler’s Aid, in Music For Millions, 1944.

Littlest Rebel, The (1935) -- (Movie Clip) Away Down South In Dixie Southerner Virgie (Shirley Temple) is drilling her happy slave friends (Willie Best as "James Henry") when courteous Union Colonel Morrison (Jack Holt) rides up asking her father's whereabouts, in The Littlest Rebel, 1935.

Littlest Rebel, The (1935) -- (Movie Clip) See Uncle Bill Dance Ever shrewd, producer B.G. DeSylva, director David Butler, and their moppet heroine Virgie (Shirley Temple) have "Uncle Bill" (Bill "Bojangles" Robinson) dancing barely three minutes into The Littlest Rebel, 1935.

Kansan, The (1943) -- (Movie Clip) He's No Tenderfoot Straight to business in this RKO programmer, Richard Dix rides into a Kansas town where the James Gang is making trouble (the one who gets away is George "Superman" Reeves), and we meet Albert Dekker, the banker and Jane Wyatt, the overdressed nurse, in The Kansan, 1943.

Ghost Breakers, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) Keep It In The Can Thrifty heiress Mary (Paulette Goddard) wraps business with the guys (Paul Lukas, Pedro De Cordoba) overseeing her inheritance of a Cuban castle, then disrobes while radio gossip-monger Larry (Bob Hope) goes a little too far for gangster Frenchy (Paul Fix), early in The Ghost Breakers, 1940.

Ghost Breakers, The (1940) -- (Movie Clip) My Parents Had No Imagination The first meeting of the principals, Bob Hope as radio host Larry, who has angered some gangsters but who wrongly thinks he's shot a guy, dives into the hotel room of otherwise uninvolved Mary (Paulette Goddard), his sidekick Alex (Willie Best) standing by, in The Ghost Breakers, 1940.

Kentucky Kernels (1934) -- (Movie Clip) We Kill Him On Purpose! Willie Best plays a dopey servant, helping greet Gloria (Mary Carlisle), of the Wakefield clan (headed by Noah Beery), and not impressed by Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey, escorting Spanky McFarland, orphan heir to, what they soon learn, is a rival clan's fortune, in Kentucky Kernels, 1934.

Busses Roar (1942) -- (Movie Clip) San Diego Bus Not hard to see what Warner studio bosses saw in young Eleanor Parker, here as counter-girl Norma, in her first movie appearance, followed by Willie Best, Rex Williams whom we know to be a baddie, Creighton Hale selling tickets and Julie Bishop short of cash, early in the 1942 war-time programmer Busses Roar.

Busses Roar (1942) -- (Movie Clip) Marines Are Funny Reba (Julie Bishop) by now is pretty-much openly hustling for a bus ticket home, failing with just-arrived Sgt. Ryan (Richard Travis) and commiserating with Norma (Eleanor Parker, in her first movie), Vera Lewis and Harry Bradley the senior couple, in the Warner Bros. B-feature Busses Roar,1942.

Nothing But The Truth (1941) -- (Movie Ciip) Is That Money? Newly hired stock broker Steve (Bob Hope), with aide Sam (Willie Best), meets Gwen (Paulette Goddard), niece of the boss, notorious for her charity hustling, in Nothing But The Truth, 1941.

Nothing But The Truth (1941) -- (Movie Ciip) Going With Girls Stock broker Steve (Bob Hope), having bet he can go 24 hours without lying, tries to keep his new boss (Edward Arnold) et al from finding niece Gwen (Paulette Goddard), who put up the cash, in Nothing But The Truth, 1941.

Cabin in the Sky - (Original Trailer) God and Satan battle for the soul of a wounded gambler in the musical Cabin In The Sky (1943) with performances by Louis Armstong, Ethel Waters and Lena Horne.

Bibliography

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