Stepin Fetchit

Acting

Stepin Fetchit

Born — Died

1902-05-30 — 1985-11-19

Place of birth

Key West, Florida, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

59 titles

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.

Known for

Tonight Starring Jack Paar poster
7.5

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.

Tonight Starring Jack Paar

1957

Hollywood Black poster
3.0

The epic story of the actors, writers, directors, and producers who fought for their place on the page, behind the camera and on the screen. From blackface to Black Panther, this series is a definitive chronicle of more than a century of the black experience in Hollywood and a powerful reexamination of a quintessentially American story – in brilliant color.

Hollywood Black

2024

Bend of the River poster
7.0

Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory...

Bend of the River

1952

The Sun Shines Bright poster
6.6

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.

The Sun Shines Bright

1953

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood poster
4.4

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.

Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood

1976

Charlie Chan in Egypt poster
6.9

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.

Charlie Chan in Egypt

1935

Film credits

1970s · 5 titles

1940s · 6 titles

1930s · 30 titles

Charlie Chan in Egypt poster
6.9

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.

Charlie Chan in Egypt

1935

Love Is News poster
6.3

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.

Love Is News

1937

Zenobia poster
5.0

A modest country doctor in the antebellum South has to contend with his daughter's upcoming marriage and an affectionate medicine show elephant.

Zenobia

1939

Marie Galante poster
4.9

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.

Marie Galante

1934

Steamboat Round the Bend poster
7.5

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.

Steamboat Round the Bend

1935

Stand Up and Cheer! poster
5.3

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.

Stand Up and Cheer!

1934

One More Spring poster
6.2

Three people live together in the maintenance shed at Central Park as an alternative to living on the streets.

One More Spring

1935

36 Hours to Kill poster
6.1

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.

36 Hours to Kill

1936

Judge Priest poster
6.4

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.

Judge Priest

1934

Carolina poster
6.7

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.

Carolina

1934

The Galloping Ghost poster
4.7

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.

The Galloping Ghost

1931

Fifty Roads to Town poster
10.0

A man on the lam in the Canadian wilds encounters a young woman in a remote lodge who is also on the run.

Fifty Roads to Town

1937

On the Avenue poster
7.2

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.

On the Avenue

1937

The World Moves On poster
5.9

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.

The World Moves On

1934

The Virginia Judge poster
10.0

In a small town in the South, Jim Preston resents his stepfather, Judge Calhoun Davis, in spite of everything the judge has done to be a father him. "Cal" is the most respected man in town, and makes his judgements in court with authority and generosity.

The Virginia Judge

1935

No artwork available
7.0

Stepin Fetchit in the Educational Pictures short "Slow Poke," doing the shtick that made him a millionaire in the 1930s.

Slow Poke

1933

Hot Tip poster
7.0

An amateur handicapper must help his future son-in-law recoup the money he lost while playing the ponies.

Hot Tip

1935

Helldorado poster
9.0

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.

Helldorado

1935

Dimples poster
6.6

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.

Dimples

1936

The Big Fight poster
4.5

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.

The Big Fight

1930

David Harum poster
7.5

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.

David Harum

1934

The Prodigal poster
4.0

An aspiring singer, who has fallen on hard times and is now living as a hobo, returns to his wealthy southern family.

The Prodigal

1931

Wild Horse poster
6.2

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

Wild Horse

1931

No artwork available
7.0

Spanish-language version of The Big Fight (1930).

Face of Desire

1930

A Tough Winter poster
5.8

The gang creates a huge mess after they get into a taffy-pulling contest.

A Tough Winter

1930

Swing High poster
7.7

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.

Swing High

1930

Neck and Neck poster
7.0

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.

Neck and Neck

1931

No artwork available
4.3

A milquetoast clerk is betrothed to the socialite whose aunt holds a big account with his company.

His Exciting Night

1938

No artwork available
NR

French language version of A TOUGH WINTER with a new cast.

Temps d'Hiver

1930

Cameo Kirby poster
8.0

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.

Cameo Kirby

1930

1920s · 12 titles

Thru Different Eyes poster
8.0

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.

Thru Different Eyes

1929

Salute poster
5.8

A comedy-romance about rival brothers attending a military academy.

Salute

1929

Nameless Men poster
10.0

Bob Strong, a detective, goes to prison undercover to befriend Hugh, a young man who was part of a gang that committed a robbery, in order to find out where they hid the money. Strong finally finds out the name of Hugh's partner, who has the money, but things take a complicated turn when Strong falls in love with Hugh's sister.

Nameless Men

1928

Big Time poster
7.5

The relationship between a male dancer and his actress girlfriend is threatened by a scheming chorister.

Big Time

1929

The Tragedy of Youth poster
3.0

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.

The Tragedy of Youth

1928

Show Boat poster
6.8

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

Show Boat

1929

Fox Movietone Follies of 1929 poster
4.3

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.

Fox Movietone Follies of 1929

1929

The Devil's Skipper poster
10.0

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.

The Devil's Skipper

1928

In Old Kentucky poster
10.0

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.

In Old Kentucky

1927

No artwork available
9.0

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.

The Mysterious Stranger

1925

Hearts in Dixie poster
5.0

Nappus sends his grandson north for schooling to shelter him from their community.

Hearts in Dixie

1929

The Ghost Talks poster
10.0

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.

The Ghost Talks

1929

Series credits