Nick Stewart

Acting

Nick Stewart

Born 1910-03-15 · New York City, New York, U.S.

Horace Winfred "Nick" Stewart (March 15, 1910 – December 18, 2000) also billed as Nick O'Demus was an American television and film actor. Stewart was known for his role as Lightnin' (Willie Jefferson) on TV's The Amos 'n' Andy Show. Nick Stewart was born on March 15, 1910, in Harlem, New York City, to Joseph (March 15, 1888 – July 1976) and Eva Stewart, who were recent immigrants from Barbados, British West Indies. He began his show business career as a dancer at the Cotton Club and Hoofers Club. Stewart also was a veteran of Broadway shows, having created a comedic character he called "Nicodemus" and playing that role in Swingin' the Dream and Louisiana Purchase, as well as in the film Go West, Young Man. Stewart also performed comedy as a cast member of the Rudy Vallée radio show in 1941. Other acting credits include the 1936 movie Go West Young Man, the voice of Br'er Bear in the 1946 Disney movie Song of the South, and Willy-Willy on the television series Ramar of the Jungle. Also in 1954, Stewart had an important role in The Reign of Amelika Joe presented by Fireside Theatre. He also won a comedy role in White Christmas (1954). He was originally offered the role of Calhoun the lawyer, which he turned down. (After his refusal, it went to Johnny Lee, who had the role on radio since 1949.) Soon Gosden and Correll were back on the telephone, this time offering Stewart the role of Lightnin' on the television show. Stewart accepted the role with one idea in mind: to make enough money to be able to open his theater where African Americans would not be typecast as maids and porters. In the 1960s, he would have small roles in Mister Ed and the classic comedy film, It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963) as the Migrant Truck Driver who is forced off of the road. In 1987, Doris McMillon devoted an entire week of her nightly talk show, On the Line, to a discussion of the documentary Amos 'n' Andy: Anatomy of a Controversy, and the issues surrounding the shows. Stewart was one of the participants, discussing the show and his role in it. He also had a role in the movie Carmen Jones. Stewart's final acting role would be returning to Disney to reprise the voice role of Br'er Bear for the theme park attraction Splash Mountain, which is based on the animated segments of Song of the South. He was the only actor to return and voice his character from the aforementioned movie. In an interview with author Jim Korkis, he was asked about whether or not his role of Br'er Bear was degrading. He replied, "Disney treated us like Kings." He went on to say that the money he earned from Song of the South was donated to a theatre for African-American actors to play roles other than maids and butlers, and was doing the same with the money from reprising his role for the Disneyland attraction.

Acting credits

Dumbo poster
7.0

Dumbo is a baby elephant born with over-sized ears and a supreme lack of confidence. But thanks to his even more diminutive buddy Timothy the Mouse, the pint-sized pachyderm learns to surmount all obstacles.

Dumbo

1941

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World poster
7.0

A group of strangers come across a man dying after a car crash who proceeds to tell them about the $350,000 he buried in California. What follows is the madcap adventures of those strangers as each attempts to claim the prize for himself.

It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

1963

Silver Streak poster
6.7

A somewhat daffy book editor on a rail trip from Los Angeles to Chicago thinks that he sees a murdered man thrown from the train. When he can find no one who will believe him, he starts doing some investigating of his own. But all that accomplishes is to get the killer after him.

Silver Streak

1976

Carmen Jones poster
6.2

In this musical set in an all-Black army camp, civilian parachute maker and "hot bundle" Carmen Jones is desired by many of the men. Naturally, she wants Joe, who's engaged to sweet Cindy Lou and about to go into pilot training for the Korean War.

Carmen Jones

1954

Song of the South poster
6.5

Uncle Remus draws upon his tales of Br'er Rabbit to help little Johnny deal with his confusion over his parents' separation as well as his new life on the plantation.

Song of the South

1946

Dakota poster
5.2

In 1871, professional gambler John Devlin elopes with Sandra "Sandy" Poli, daughter of Marko Poli, an immigrant who has risen to railroad tycoon. Sandy, knowing that the railroad is to be extended into Dakota, plans to use their $20,000 nest egg to buy land options to sell to the railroad at a profit. On the stage trip to Ft. Abercrombie, their fellow passengers are Jim Bender and Bigtree Collins, who practically own the town of Fargo and Devlin is aware that they are prepared to protect the little empire... trying to drive out the farmers by burning their property, destroying their wheat, and blaming the devastation on the Indians. Continuing their journey north on the river aboard the "River Bird', Sandy and John meet Captain Bounce, an irascible old seafarer. Two of Bendender's henchmen, Slagin and Carp, board the boat and relieve John of his $20,000 at gunpoint. Captain Bounce, chasing the robber's dinghy..

Dakota

1945

Cabin in the Sky poster
6.5

When compulsive gambler Little Joe Jackson dies in a drunken fight, he awakens in purgatory, where he learns that he will be sent back to Earth for six months to prove that he deserves to be in heaven. He awakens, remembering nothing and struggles to do right by his devout wife, Petunia, while an angel known as the General and the devil's son, Lucifer Jr., fight for his soul.

Cabin in the Sky

1943

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood poster
5.8

When two bumbling barbers act as agents for a talented but unknown singer, they stage a phony murder in order to get him a plum role.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello in Hollywood

1945

Follow the Boys poster
5.7

During World War II, all the studios put out "all-star" vehicles which featured virtually every star on the lot--often playing themselves--in musical numbers and comedy skits, and were meant as morale-boosters to both the troops overseas and the civilians at home. This was Universal Pictures' effort. It features everyone from Donald O'Connor to the Andrews Sisters to Orson Welles to W.C. Fields to George Raft to Marlene Dietrich, and dozens of other Universal players.

Follow the Boys

1944

Stormy Weather poster
6.9

The relationship between an aspiring dancer and a popular songstress provides a retrospective of the great African-American entertainers of the early 1900s.

Stormy Weather

1943

Tarzan's Fight for Life poster
4.8

Dr. Sturdy is trying to establish a modern hospital in the jungle. His efforts are strongly opposed by Futa, the witch doctor, and Ramo, a native warrior.

Tarzan's Fight for Life

1958

Who Killed Cock Robin? poster
6.8

A robin is shot so the woodland community holds a trial to investigate.

Who Killed Cock Robin?

1935

Robin Hood of the Pecos poster
6.0

Robin Hood of the Pecos is a 1941 American film starring Roy Rogers and directed by Joseph Kane. Following the Civil War, the South still faced many dangers not the least of which were the armies of carpetbaggers that descended on impoverished towns, intent on making a fast greenback at the expense of the local populace.

Robin Hood of the Pecos

1941

Wall Street Cowboy poster
5.8

When his ranch falls on hard times, Cowboy Roy Roger has trouble making his mortgage payment and he takes his song and dance to Wall Street to try to raise cash fast.

Wall Street Cowboy

1939

Shine poster
NR

Louis Armstrong performs with Nicodemus on this Soundie from 1942.

Shine

1942

Flame of the Islands poster
4.7

An administrative assistant who may or may not have been the mistress of her firm’s deceased client receives a payout from the dead man’s widow and uses it to buy a stake in a Caribbean casino. In addition to being a neophyte empresario she’s a nightclub singer and several men lust after her.

Flame of the Islands

1955

Go West Young Man poster
5.5

Sensational movie star Mavis Arden's following spans the world and her personal appearance tours prove her popularity. On her way home from one such appearance, Mavis' car breaks down. She orders her publicity agent to find her a place to stay, suspicious that he planned the breakdown to keep her away from a man. However, she soon finds herself mooning over an attractive local repairman and listening to his ideas about inventing equipment for film.

Go West Young Man

1936

My Son, The Hero poster
7.0

Learning that his long-unseen son is soon to arrive for a visit, a small-time con-man enlists the help of his cronies to help him pretend to be a wealthy and important businessman. Comedy.

My Son, The Hero

1943

False Faces poster
8.0

A district attorney sets out to vindicate his son who's been accused of murdering a nightclub singer.

False Faces

1943

She Wouldn't Say Yes poster
6.4

Susan Lane is a gifted psychiatrist, grounded in self-control. Before returning by train to her practice in Chicago, she spends time back East with war veterans, building their self-esteem, but frowning on the impulsive, as represented by a favorite comic strip called "The Nixie." She bumps into Michael Kent, an officer and the comic strip's author. He likes her instantly and she dislikes him. He's headed to the Pacific, sees her on the train, gets off in Chicago, and with her father's help, pursues her and hatches a plan to marry her. Meanwhile, she has her own plan to get rid of him with the help of a blond patient. Will the Nixie get into her psyche?

She Wouldn't Say Yes

1945

Behind Green Lights poster
5.6

An unscrupulous private investigator with a penchant for blackmail is found dead in a car and the leading suspect is Janet Bradley, the daughter of a mayoral candidate. With the election just weeks away, shady and ruthless individuals muscle the medical officer into switching the corpse with another body. Lieutenant Sam Carson, one of the few good apples in the bunch must find a way to get to the bottom of it all.

Behind Green Lights

1946

International Crime poster
5.5

The second and final Grand National Pictures film to feature The Shadow, played again by Rod La Rocque. In this version, Lamont Cranston is an amateur detective and host of a radio show with his assistant Phoebe (not Margo) Lane. Cabbie Moe Shrevnitz and Commissioner Weston also appear.

International Crime

1938

Delightfully Dangerous poster
5.3

Young Sherry Williams dreams of having a singing career, and she idolizes her older sister Josephine, who has gone to New York to perform on the stage. When Sherry is distraught just before performing at her school, a visiting Broadway producer encourages her by telling her positive things about her sister. Soon afterwards, Sherry decides to make a surprise trip to New York to visit Josephine - but what she finds there is not at all what she expected

Delightfully Dangerous

1945

Three Little Girls in Blue poster
7.3

Three sisters go to Atlantic City with hopes of finding rich husbands.

Three Little Girls in Blue

1946