Bill Robinson(1878-1949)

Actor
Additional Crew
Soundtrack

Bill Robinson quit school at age seven and began work as a professional dancer the following year. Bojangles (the name referred to his happy-go-lucky ebullience) starred in vaudeville, musical stage and movies. He invented the stair tap routine and was considered one of the world's greatest tap dancers. His film debut was in Dixiana (1930). He worked in fifteen movies, but his movie fame came primarily from the films he made with Shirley Temple -- The Little Colonel (1935), The Littlest Rebel (1935), and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938). In 1989 the US Congress named his birth date as National Tap Dancing Day.

IMDbProStarmeter See rank

Photos45

+ 39

Known for

The Shape of Water

7.3

Soundtrack(as Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, "I Went to Market")

2017

Stormy Weather

7.3

Bill Williamson

1943

The Little Colonel

7.0

Walker

1935

King for a Day

6.8

Short

Bill Green

1934

Credits

Edit

IMDbPro

Actor

Stormy Weather
7.3
- Bill Williamson
- 1943
Up the River
6.1
- Memphis Jones
- 1938
Road Demon
5.7
- Zephyr
- 1938
Just Around the Corner
6.4
- Corporal Jones
- 1938
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
7.0
- Aloysius
- 1938
One Mile from Heaven
6.3
- Officer Joe Dudley
- 1937
The Littlest Rebel
6.7
- Uncle Billy
- 1935
In Old Kentucky
6.4
- Wash Jackson
- 1935
The Big Broadcast of 1936
5.6
- Specialty
- 1935
Hooray for Love
6.0
- Bill Robinson
- 1935
The Little Colonel
7.0
- Walker
- 1935
King for a Day
6.8
Short
- Bill Green
- 1934
Harlem Is Heaven
6.2
- Bill
- 1932
Dixiana
5.3
- Specialty Dancer
- Plantation Butler
- 1930
The Delicatessen Kid
5.8
Short
- Bill Robinson
- 1929

Additional Crew

Soundtrack

The Shape of Water
7.3
- performer: "I Went to Market"
- writer: "I Went to Market" (as Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson)
- 2017
Hollywood Singing and Dancing: A Musical History - The 1920s: The Dawn of the Hollywood Musical
8.1
Video
- performer: "Mr. and Mrs. Sippi" (uncredited)
- 2008
That's Dancing!
7.2
- performer: "Organ Grinder's Swing", "The Old Folks At Home", "Smiles"
- 1985
Fred Astaire Salutes the Fox Musicals
7.4
TV Movie
- performer: "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers", "The Toy Trumpet" (as Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson)
- 1974
Stormy Weather
7.3
- lyrics: "Rang Tang Tang"
- performer: "Rang Tang Tang", "At a Georgia Camp Meeting" (1897), "De Camptown Races" (1849), "Linda Brown" (1937), "African Dance" (1939), "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" (1928), "My, My, Ain't That Somethin'" (1933) ("There's No Two Ways About Love" (1943), uncredited)
- 1943
Let's Scuffle
6.1
Short
- performer: "Let's Scuffle"
- 1942
Just Around the Corner
6.4
- performer: "This Is a Happy Little Ditty" (1938), "Brass Buttons and Epaulettes" (1938), "I Love to Walk in the Rain" (1938) (uncredited)
- 1938
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
7.0
- performer: "Parade of the Wooden Soldiers"
- 1938
The Littlest Rebel
6.7
- music: "She and I" (1936)
- performer: "Polly Wolly Doodle" (1880), "Turkey in the Straw" (uncredited)
- 1935
The Big Broadcast of 1936
5.6
- performer: "Miss Brown To You"
- 1935
Hooray for Love
6.0
- performer: "I'm Livin' in a Great Big Way" (1935) (uncredited)
- 1935
The Little Colonel
7.0
- performer: "My Old Kentucky Home" (1853) (uncredited)
- 1935
King for a Day
6.8
Short
- performer: "Old Folks at Home", "Bill Robinson's Stomp", "Old Black Joe", "Love's Old Sweet Song (Just a Song at Twilight)", "Smiles", "Harlem Honeymoon" (uncredited)
- 1934
The Big Benefit
8.6
Short
- performer: "Happy As the Day Is Long" (uncredited)
- 1933
Dixiana
5.3
- performer: "Mr. and Mrs. Sippi" (1930) (uncredited)
- 1930

In-development projects at IMDbPro

Personal details

Edit

Alternative name
- Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson
Born
- May 25, 1878
- Richmond, Virginia, USA
Died
- November 25, 1949
- New York, USA(heart disease)
Spouses
Other works
On Brunswick #6134, 7705, 01168 he performs "Keep a Song in Your Soul" and "Just a Crazy Song (Hi-Hi-Hi), accompanied by a studio orchestra. Recorded 27 May 1931.
Publicity listings

Did you know

Edit

Trivia
He died penniless. Ed Sullivan quietly paid for his funeral because he thought he deserved a dignified burial.

Quotes
What success I achieved in the theater is due to the fact that I have always worked just as hard when there were ten people in the house as when there were thousands. Just as hard in Springfield, Illinois, as on Broadway.