DOOLEY WILSON
Name: Arthur Wilson
Born: 3 April 1886 Tyler, Texas, U.S.
Died: 30 May 1953 Los Angeles, California
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 Paramount studio in Hollywood, which lent him to Warner Bros.
for his role as Sam in Casablanca. He played Pompey, an escaped slave, in the
musical Bloomer Girl (1946–1948). His performance of the song "The Eagle and Me"
in this show was selected by Dwight Blocker Bowers for inclusion in a
Smithsonian recordings compilation, American Musical Theatre.
Name: Arthur Wilson
Born: 3 April 1886 Tyler, Texas, U.S.
Died: 30 May 1953 Los Angeles, California
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 Paramount studio in Hollywood, which lent him to Warner Bros.
for his role as Sam in Casablanca. He played Pompey, an escaped slave, in the
musical Bloomer Girl (1946–1948). His performance of the song "The Eagle and Me"
in this show was selected by Dwight Blocker Bowers for inclusion in a
Smithsonian recordings compilation, American Musical Theatre.