Dooley Wilson

Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an African American actor and singer. He was born in Tyler, Texas, and is most famous for playing "Sam" in the 1942 film Casablanca. Wilson's precise year of birth is unknown: it may have been anywhere between 1884 and 1887. He worked in black theatre in Chicago and New York for most of the period from 1908 to the 1930s, although in the 1920s he played as a drummer in a band which toured E... more

Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an African American actor and singer. He was born in Tyler, Texas, and is most famous for playing "Sam" in the 1942 film Casablanca. Wilson's precise year of birth is unknown: it may have been anywhere between 1884 and 1887. He worked in black theatre in Chicago and New York for most of the period from 1908 to the 1930s, although in the 1920s he played as a drummer in a band which toured Europe. From the 1930s to the 1950s he worked in motion pictures and Broadway musicals, and played Bill Jackson on the television situation comedy Beulah during its final 1952–1953 season. He received the nickname "Dooley" while working in the Pekin Theatre in Chicago, circa 1908, because of his then-signature Irish song "Mr. Dooley," which he performed in whiteface. His breakthrough Broadway appearance came in the role of Little Joe, a stereotypic lazy rascal in the musical Cabin in the Sky (1940–1941). This led to his signing for the... less