Dooley Wilson

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Dooley Wilson (actually: Arthur Wilson ; born April 3, 1886 in Tyler , Texas , USA ; † May 30, 1953 in Los Angeles , California , USA) was an American film and theater actor and jazz musician . He became famous for his role as pianist Sam in the cult film Casablanca (1942) and thus also as the interpreter of the song As Time Goes By .

life and career

Dooley Wilson was born in Texas, but his exact date of birth has long been a matter of speculation. The year 1886 was mentioned in some books, in which the African American was born, in other sources it was 1894. Only his gravestone in the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery in Los Angeles ended the controversy, as the year 1886 could be clearly read here. Wilson was already on stage as a ballad singer at the age of 12 and became a familiar face on the New York and Chicago stages around 1908 . His pseudonym Dooley came from that time and came from the fact that he always performed the song Mr. Dooley in the Beijing Theater in Chicago . As Mr. Dooley , Wilson had painted his face white and played an Irishman on the stage ; a part that increased Wilson's popularity.

In addition to his theater work, Wilson also toured with the jazz band Red Devils in the USA as well as Europe and North Africa in the 1920s . From the 1930s he focused his work on musicals and occasionally on feature films. One of his most famous films is the film drama Casablanca , produced in 1942 , for which the actor had to learn to play the piano . Although Wilson's fee was only $ 350 a week, his supporting role as pianist Sam is one of the most expensive of the entire production. He himself sang numerous songs that appear in Casablanca , including Knock on Wood and the world famous As Time Goes By , which reached number 15 in the UK charts in December 1977.

Still, the theater was his real passion. So he was a star on Broadway and the Federal Theater . He appeared on stage with John Houseman and Orson Welles in 1940 as Little Joe in Cabin in the Sky , and in 1946 played an escaped slave in Bloomer Girl . From 1952 Wilson was in Beulah , one of the first television series with mostly African American actors, in front of the camera; it would be one of his last professional highlights.

Dooley Wilson was married to Estelle, who was two years his junior. The couple had no children. He died in 1953 at the age of 67; his wife died in 1971.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Wilson, Dooley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wilson, Arthur
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film and theater actor and jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH April 3, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH Tyler , Texas , USA
DATE OF DEATH May 30, 1953
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA