People, Locations, Episodes

Bert Williams, Actor, Comedian, and Composer born

Bert Williams

*Bert Williams was born on this date in 1876. He was a Black comedian who portrayed slow-witted, shuffling Black characters, which was then a standard role in vaudeville.

Williams was born in New Providence, Bahamas. When he was a child, his family moved to California. Later, he worked in the mining and lumber camps of the West.

In 1895, he and George W. Walker became a comedy team, one of their era's most successful.  They appeared in New York City within a year, where their song "Good Morning, Carrie" became famous. In 1903, the partnership graduated to full-scale musical comedy.  The all-Black show "In Dahomey" was a Broadway success. The cast performed a command at Buckingham Palace in London the next year. Other successes followed, notably "Abyssinia" (1906), "Bandanna Land" (1908), and "Mr. Lode of Koal" (1909).

Walker died in 1909, and Williams became a regular comic in Florenz Ziegfeld's shows. He starred in the Follies from 1910 through 1919 and wrote much of his material. Of his many musical compositions, "Nobody" (1905), with its wry, fatalistic lyrics, is probably the best example of his work.

Bert Williams died on March 4, 1922, in New York City.

To become an Actor or Actress.