Stepin Fetchit

Stepin Fetchit

Born: May 30, 1902
Died: November 19, 1985
in Key West, Florida, USA
Stepin Fetchit (1902–1985) was an American comedian and actor.

His Fetchit persona parlayed into a successful film career, eventually becoming the first black actor to become a millionaire. He was also the first black actor to receive screen credit.

Stepin Fetchit typical film persona and stage name have long been controversial, and seen as illustrative of negative stereotypes of Negroes. However, a newer interpretation of his film persona contends he was ultimately subversive of the status quo.

Movies for Stepin Fetchit...

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Title: Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood
Character: Dancing Butler
Released: July 26, 1976
Type: Movie
A would-be filmmaker and actress shake up the industry with a trick dog who gets discovered by a studio bus driver in the 1920s.
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Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Title: Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?
Character: Self (archive footage)
Released: August 6, 1975
Type: Movie
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
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Amazing Grace
Title: Amazing Grace
Character: Cousin Lincoln
Released: August 30, 1974
Type: Movie
A widow tries to influence the local mayoral election in Baltimore, Maryland, after she discovers that a black candidate is being used by the incumbent mayor to further his own reelection efforts.
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Cutter
Title: Cutter
Character: Shoeshine Man
Released: January 26, 1972
Type: Movie
Private eye searches for a missing football quarterback in Chicago.
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a.k.a. Cassius Clay
Title: a.k.a. Cassius Clay
Character: Himself
Released: November 3, 1970
Type: Movie
The study of crazy brilliance and flamboyant sincerity. a.k.a. Cassius Clay presents a fascinating look at the incredible life and achievements of one of the most courageous, outspoken and charismatic figures of boxing: Muhammad Ali. Born Cassius Clay in 1942, Ali soon rose to become a renowned athlete, an articulate author and a compelling political; leader. Audacious, ambitious and totally fearless, Ali became a symbol of pride, a legend of hope and one of the most extraordinary cultural icons of the 20th century.
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Inquiring Nuns
Title: Inquiring Nuns
Character: Self
Released: November 1, 1968
Type: Movie
Two nuns travel across Chicago asking people the question, "Are you happy?"
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Title: Tonight Starring Jack Paar
Character: Self
Released: July 29, 1957
Type: TV
Tonight Starring Jack Paar is an American talk show hosted by Jack Paar under The Tonight Show franchise from 1957 to 1962. It originally aired during late-night. During most of its run it was broadcast from Studio 6B inside the RCA Building. The same studio would also host early episodes of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, and Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Its theme song was an instrumental version of "Everything's Coming Up Roses", and the closing theme was "So Until I See You" by Al Lerner.
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The Sun Shines Bright
Title: The Sun Shines Bright
Character: Jeff Poindexter
Released: May 2, 1953
Type: Movie
With the election approaching, a judge in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century is involved variously in revealing the real identity of a young woman, reliving his Civil War memories, and preventing the lynching of an African youth.
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Bend of the River
Title: Bend of the River
Character: Adam
Released: January 23, 1952
Type: Movie
Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory...
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Miracle in Harlem
Title: Miracle in Harlem
Character: 'Swifty', the Handyman
Released: November 29, 1948
Type: Movie
A crooked real estate tycoon tricks a trusting young woman out of her small candy store. When he is found dead, the girl is suspected of the crime.
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Big Timers
Title: Big Timers
Released: January 2, 1945
Type: Movie
A wealthy young society man is dating a beautiful young woman who he believes is also in his "class" because of her beautiful, classically trained singing voice. In actuality, she is the daughter of a poor hotel maid, and in order to keep the boyfriend from finding out just how poor the family is, the mother manages to get a fancy room in the hotel to try to convince him that her daughter is "good enough" for him.
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Thru Different Eyes
Title: Thru Different Eyes
Character: Janitor
Released: June 19, 1942
Type: Movie
A celebrated district attorney reflects on the way circumstantial evidence impacted a famous murder case.
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Zenobia
Title: Zenobia
Character: Zero
Released: April 21, 1939
Type: Movie
A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.
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His Exciting Night
Title: His Exciting Night
Character: Casper
Released: November 11, 1938
Type: Movie
A milquetoast clerk is betrothed to the socialite whose aunt holds a big account with his company.
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Fifty Roads to Town
Title: Fifty Roads to Town
Character: Percy
Released: June 3, 1937
Type: Movie
A man on the lam in the Canadian wilds encounters a young woman in a remote lodge who is also on the run.
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Love Is News
Title: Love Is News
Character: Penrod
Released: February 26, 1937
Type: Movie
When a crafty reporter uses false pretenses to get a story out of heiress Tony Gateson, she turns the tables on him, telling the press that they are engaged. Suddenly he's front page news, every salesman is at his doorstep, and he loses his job. A series of misadventures ensues with him alternately back on his job and fired and her ex-fiancé showing up.
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On the Avenue
Title: On the Avenue
Character: Herman
Released: February 12, 1937
Type: Movie
A new Broadway show starring Gary Blake shamelessly lampoons the rich Carraway family. To get her own back, daughter Mimi sets out to ensnare Blake, but the courtship is soon for real, to the annoyance of his co-star, hoofing chanteuese Mona Merrick.
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Dimples
Title: Dimples
Character: Cicero
Released: October 9, 1936
Type: Movie
Dimples Appleby lives with her pick-pocket grandfather in 19th century New York City. She entertains the crowds while he works his racket. A rich lady makes it possible for the girl to go legit.
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36 Hours to Kill
Title: 36 Hours to Kill
Character: Flash - Pullman Porter
Released: July 24, 1936
Type: Movie
Duke and Jeanie Benson, an outlaw couple hiding out under assumed names. Duke realizes that he has a winning sweepstake ticket and will win $150,000 if he can cash it in without getting apprehended
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The Virginia Judge
Title: The Virginia Judge
Character: Spasm Johnson
Released: September 17, 1935
Type: Movie
Walter C. Kelly, Marsha Hunt, Stepin Fetchit
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Steamboat Round the Bend
Title: Steamboat Round the Bend
Character: Jonah
Released: September 6, 1935
Type: Movie
A Louisiana con man enters his steamboat into a winner-take-all race with a rival while trying to find a witness to free his nephew, about to be hanged for murder.
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Hot Tip
Title: Hot Tip
Character: Cook
Released: August 20, 1935
Type: Movie
An amateur handicapper must help his future son-in-law recoup the money he lost while playing the ponies.
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Charlie Chan in Egypt
Title: Charlie Chan in Egypt
Character: Snowshoes
Released: June 4, 1935
Type: Movie
While investigating the theft of antiquities from an ancient tomb excavation , Charlie discovers that the body of the expedition's leader concealed inside the mummy's wrappings.
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One More Spring
Title: One More Spring
Character: Zoo Attendant
Released: February 15, 1935
Type: Movie
Three people live together in the maintenance shed at Central Park as an alternative to living on the streets.
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Helldorado
Title: Helldorado
Character: Ulysses
Released: January 5, 1935
Type: Movie
Arthur T. Ryan, a hitchhiker, gets a ride from haughty, society girl Glenda Wynant and her fiance, wealthy J. F. Van Avery after he helps them to replace the top of their convertible when it begins to rain. As they approach a bridge, Art notices a few stalled cars, and when the storm worsens, the bridge washes away, leaving Art, Glenda, Van and several others stranded in a canyon.
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Marie Galante
Title: Marie Galante
Character: Waiter in Pacific Gardens
Released: October 25, 1934
Type: Movie
On the French coast, unlucky Marie Galante is abducted and forced to board an American cargo ship bound for the Panama Canal. When an escape attempt leaves Marie high and dry in the Yucatan, she takes work as a nightclub singer to earn her safe passage to the Canal region. But Marie faces bigger problems when she gets mixed up in a destructive plot against the U.S. Naval fleet, and so she accepts the kindly assistance of secret agent Dr. Crawbett.
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Judge Priest
Title: Judge Priest
Character: Jeff Poindexter
Released: September 15, 1934
Type: Movie
Judge Priest, a proud Confederate veteran, restores the justice in a small town in the Post-Bellum Kentucky using his common sense and his great sense of humanity.
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The World Moves On
Title: The World Moves On
Character: Dixie
Released: June 27, 1934
Type: Movie
Two families, cotton merchants in England and America, with branches in France and Prussia swear to stand by each other in a belief that a great business firmly established in four countries will be able to withstand even such another calamity as the Napoleonic Wars from which Europe is slowly recovering. Then many years later, along comes World War One and the years that follow, to test the businesses.
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Stand Up and Cheer!
Title: Stand Up and Cheer!
Character: Stepin Fetchit
Released: May 4, 1934
Type: Movie
President Franklin Roosevelt appoints a theatrical producer as the new Secretary of Amusement in order to cheer up an American public still suffering through the Depression. The new secretary soon runs afoul of political lobbyists out to destroy his department.
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David Harum
Title: David Harum
Character: Sylvester Swifty
Released: March 2, 1934
Type: Movie
Rogers plays a small town banker in the 1890s whose chief rival is the deacon (Middleton) with whom he has traded horse flesh. Taylor is a bank teller who places a winning $4,500 bet on a 10-1 harness racing horse, making him Rogers' bank partner.
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Carolina
Title: Carolina
Character: Scipio
Released: February 2, 1934
Type: Movie
During Civil War Reconstruction, the Connelly family is romantically restored to their former glory when Will Connelly marries a Yankee farm girl, Joanna Tate, despite the objects of his temperamental father Bob Connelly.
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Slow Poke
Title: Slow Poke
Character: Stepin
Released: September 22, 1933
Type: Movie
Stepin Fetchit in the Educational Pictures short "Slow Poke," doing the shtick that made him a millionaire in the 1930s.
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Neck and Neck
Title: Neck and Neck
Character: The Hustler
Released: November 4, 1931
Type: Movie
Bill Grant is a small-time gambler who spends more time embellishing his accomplishments than actually doing anything. He has a small run of good luck when he wins a racehorse during a poker game. This enables him to enjoy the lifestyle he has been bragging about for so long. While in high society, he falls for Norma, whose father is big in racing circles.
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The Galloping Ghost
Title: The Galloping Ghost
Character: Baxter College Locker Room Attendant
Released: September 1, 1931
Type: Movie
A gambling ring run out of the Mogul Taxi company is intent on fixing college football games. Football star Harold "Red" Grange is a target for the gamblers, whose thugs try to eliminate Grange from playing. Grange's buddy Buddy is himself vulnerable to blackmail, since he has broken team rules by marrying. The crooks use all their wiles to keep Grange and Buddy from leading their team to victory.
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Wild Horse
Title: Wild Horse
Character: Stepin
Released: August 2, 1931
Type: Movie
Ben Hall offers $1000 for the wild Devil Horse which Jim Wright and Skeeter capture. While Jim is away, Gil Davis kills Skeeter and takes the horse. The Sheriff then arrests Jim for Skeeter's murder. But unknown to them, an outlaw witnessed the killing
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The Prodigal
Title: The Prodigal
Character: Hokey
Released: February 21, 1931
Type: Movie
An aspiring singer, who has fallen on hard times and is now living as a hobo, returns to his wealthy southern family.
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Face of Desire
Title: Face of Desire
Released: June 21, 1930
Type: Movie
Spanish-language version of The Big Fight (1930).
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A Tough Winter
Title: A Tough Winter
Character: Himself
Released: June 21, 1930
Type: Movie
The gang creates a huge mess after they get into a taffy-pulling contest.
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Swing High
Title: Swing High
Character: Sam
Released: May 18, 1930
Type: Movie
To avoid hostilities, Maryan, the ward of Doc May, a medicine show owner, induces Pop Garner, a circus owner, to join forces with her guardian. Doc May and Daphne, his wife, work as clowns; and Garry, a singing soldier of fortune, sings along with Maryan's act. Ruth, Maryan's partner, quits to get married; and Joe, who is jealous of Garry, replaces her with Trixie, his former assistant. When Garry announces his engagement to Maryan, Trixie persuades him to join a strip poker game in a drunken state and "compromises" him in the presence of his fiancée. Grief-stricken, Maryan falls during her act, and Garry, robbed of circus funds, is arrested. In spite of her injuries, Maryan, learning of Trixie's treachery, performs the act with her and forces a confession by threatening to drop her; Garry is released and is welcomed back to the show.
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The Big Fight
Title: The Big Fight
Character: Spot
Released: May 11, 1930
Type: Movie
Based on the David Belasco stage production of the Max Marcin play in which heavyweight-champion Jack Dempsey played the role of the fighter, Tiger: This "behind-the-scenes look of a heavyweight-championship fight" looks much like all of the other boxing films in which the Champ gets involved in a frame-up and is asked to take a dive.
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Cameo Kirby
Title: Cameo Kirby
Character: Croup
Released: January 12, 1930
Type: Movie
Cameo Kirby, an honest riverboat gambler who works the Mississippi, rescues a girl from a gang of ruffians in New Orleans, but she disappears after he sings her a love song.
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Big Time
Title: Big Time
Character: Eli
Released: September 7, 1929
Type: Movie
The relationship between a male dancer and his actress girlfriend is threatened by a scheming chorister.
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Salute
Title: Salute
Character: Smoke Screen
Released: September 1, 1929
Type: Movie
A comedy-romance about rival brothers attending a military academy.
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Show Boat
Title: Show Boat
Character: Joe
Released: July 27, 1929
Type: Movie
This film sticks very closely to the Edna Ferber novel, rather than the musical based on the novel. There are only two major changes from Ferber's book : *Julie in this version is a white woman, not a racially mixed one; therefore she and her husband are not unlawfully married. * Ravenal returns at the end, instead of dying as in the novel
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Fox Movietone Follies of 1929
Title: Fox Movietone Follies of 1929
Character: Swifty
Released: May 25, 1929
Type: Movie
Lila Beaumont is an understudy in a Broadway musical. Her boyfriend, George Shelby, arrives in New York hoping to take Lila back home with him to marry.
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Thru Different Eyes
Title: Thru Different Eyes
Character: Janitor
Released: April 13, 1929
Type: Movie
Harvey Manning is placed on trial for the murder of Jack Winfield, his closest friend, whose body was found in the Manning home. During the trial, the prosecuting and the defense attorneys put forward sharply different versions of the character of Manning and his wife, Viola, and of the events leading up to the murder. The jury returns a verdict of guilty, but a young girl then comes forward and confesses that she killed Winfield for having wronged her.
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The Ghost Talks
Title: The Ghost Talks
Character: Christopher Lee
Released: February 24, 1929
Type: Movie
Miriam Holt hopes to solve the disappearance of a million dollars in bonds allegedly stolen by her late uncle. A team of crooks is following her, though, in hopes she'll uncover the missing money and they can grab it from her. She checks into a hotel where Franklyn Green works as a desk clerk. Franklyn is learning to be a detective through a correspondence course, and he thinks he's just the guy to help Miriam solve her mystery. The fact that she's a very attractive lady doesn't hurt, either.
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Hearts in Dixie
Title: Hearts in Dixie
Character: Gummy
Released: January 2, 1929
Type: Movie
Nappus sends his grandson north for schooling to shelter him from their community.
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The Tragedy of Youth
Title: The Tragedy of Youth
Character: Porter
Released: March 1, 1928
Type: Movie
Neglected by shallow husband Dick, young bride Paula Wayne seeks male companionship outside the marital nest. She soon finds it in the form of mature lover Frank Gordon. Lost film.
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The Devil's Skipper
Title: The Devil's Skipper
Character: Slave's Husband
Released: February 1, 1928
Type: Movie
The Devil's Skipper was based on Demetrios Contos, a seafaring yarn by Jack London. Effectively cast against type, Belle Bennett plays a wronged woman who becomes the most brutal and feared slave-ship captain on the Seven Seas.
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In Old Kentucky
Title: In Old Kentucky
Character: Highpockets
Released: November 20, 1927
Type: Movie
Young Brierly struggles to save his father, Major Brierly, from the clutches of alcohol after the Great War. At the same time, he prepares Major Brierly's horse, which served bravely with the Major at the front, for the Kentucky Derby.
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The Mysterious Stranger
Title: The Mysterious Stranger
Released: July 5, 1925
Type: Movie
Raoul Lesage suspects his wife, April, of infidelity with Herman Bennett, an artist, and forsakes her, living for the next 20 years in a hermitage surrounded by high walls. He is accompanied in this solitary life only by his young son, Paul, who, at the age of 21, has not seen anything of women or the world. One night, Paul walks in his sleep and wanders from his home. He falls into the company of his mother (whom he does not recognize), Bennett, and Bennett's beautiful ward, Helen, with whom Paul soon falls in love. After a series of thrilling adventures, Paul foils Bennett and reunites his parents; he and Helen hear wedding bells.