American actor and
musician. (1910-1986). Full name: Benjamin Sherman Crothers. He was born in
Terre Haute, Indiana and started out as a
jazzman and
comedian -- he taught himself how to play
guitar and
drums when he was a kid, then formed a
band that traveled the Midwest during the 1930s. He earned his
nickname during this period because he was an
expert scat singer.
After appearing in his first
movie (1935's "
Symphony in Black") in an uncredited role as a man who jilts
Billie Holliday, Crothers took a break from
films until the 1950s. His
acting career didn't really pick up until the late '60s, when he appeared in a fairly prominent role as Mr. Jones in "
Hello, Dolly!," followed the next year by a voice part in Disney's "
The Aristocats" as Scat Cat and in the television cartoon of "
The Harlem Globetrotters" as
Meadowlark Lemon.
After that, Crothers and his trademark
bald head, broad
smile, and
gravelly voice were in "
Lady Sings the Blues," "
The King of Marvin Gardens," "
The Fortune," and "
Truck Turner," among other films, and he appeared prominently on
television as Louie the garbage man on "
Chico and the Man" and as the hero in the "
Hong Kong Phooey" cartoon. He played Orderly Turkle in "
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest," Ralston in "
Silver Streak," Moses Brown in "
The Shootist," Mingo in "
Roots," Dick Hallorann in "
The Shining," and Doc Lynch in "
Bronco Billy." And he continued to have a fairly strong connection to the Globetrotters, playing
Nate Branch in the "
Super Globetrotters" cartoon and
Dewey Stevens in "
The Harlem Globetrotters on Gilligan's Island."
Later roles were less prominent, including small parts in "
Zapped!," "
Working," a short-lived "
Casablanca" TV series, "
Twilight Zone: The Movie," "
Transformers," "
The Journey of Natty Gann," and his last movie, "
Smart Alec." He died of
lung cancer in
Van Nuys, California, on November 22, 1986.
Research from the Internet Movie Database (www.imdb.com)