Editing Napoleon Whiting

{{short description|American character actor}}
{{more citations needed|date=July 2012}}

'''Napoleon Whiting''' (September 21, 1910, [[Mississippi]] – October 22, 1984, [[Los Angeles, California]]),<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xqUYAQAAIAAJ|title=The Ultimate Directory of Silent and Sound Era Performers: A Necrology of Actors and Actresses|page=583|first1=Billy|last1=Doyle|first2=Anthony|last2=Slide|publisher=Scarecrow Press|date=1999|isbn=9780810835474|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref> was an American [[character actor]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/39205152/|title='Black Samson' premieres|work=[[The Pittsburgh Courier]]|location=[[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]|date=October 5, 1974|access-date=November 22, 2021|page=14|via=[[Newspapers.com]]}} {{Closed access}}</ref>

He played many [[bit part]]s, often uncredited, as a menial worker such as the [[Black people|African American]] [[butler]], a stereotypical role. He also appeared as the butler in ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' (1956).

Whiting was best known to [[television]] audiences for his work as Silas on ''[[The Big Valley]]'', a [[typecasting (acting)|typecast]] but highly visible [[Role (performing arts)|role]].

==Filmography==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
| 1942
| ''[[Lucky Ghost]]'' 
| The Chauffeur 
|
|-
| 1942
| ''[[Professor Creeps]]'' 
| Taxicab Driver 
|
|-
| 1943
| ''[[Spy Train]]'' 
| Club Car Porter 
|
|-
| 1943
| ''[[Riding High (1943 film)|Riding High]]'' 
| Red Cap 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1945
| ''[[The Falcon in San Francisco]]'' 
| Pullman Porter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1946
| ''[[Centennial Summer]]'' 
| Red Cap 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1947
| ''[[Born to Kill (1947 film)|Born to Kill]]'' 
| Train Porter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1948
| ''[[The Bride Goes Wild]]'' 
| Porter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1948
| ''[[The Big Clock (film)|The Big Clock]]'' 
| Bootblack 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1950
| ''[[A Woman of Distinction]]'' 
| Porter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1950
| ''[[Mystery Street]]'' 
| Red Cap 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1950
| ''[[My Friend Irma Goes West]]'' 
| The Waiter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1951
| ''[[The Tall Target]]'' 
| Hawker 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1952
| ''[[The Narrow Margin]]'' 
| Red Cap 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1956
| ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]''
| Tony
| Season 1 Episode 15: "The Big Switch"
|-
| 1956
| ''[[Giant (1956 film)|Giant]]'' 
| Jefferson Swazey 
|
|-
| 1957
| ''[[The Tattered Dress]]'' 
| Willie, The Porter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1957
| ''[[The Helen Morgan Story]]'' 
| Napoleon, Wade's Butler 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1959
| ''[[Imitation of Life (1959 film)|Imitation of Life]]'' 
| Kenneth, Lora's Butler 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1959
| ''[[It Happened to Jane]]'' 
| Eugene, The Waiter 
|
|-
| 1959
| ''[[Don't Give Up the Ship (film)|Don't Give Up the Ship]]'' 
| Porter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1959
| ''[[Career (1959 film)|Career]]'' 
| Bellhop 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1963
| ''[[Wall of Noise]]'' 
| Preacher 
|
|-
| 1963
| ''[[Living Between Two Worlds]]''
| Reverend Williamson 
|
|-
| 1963
| ''[[4 for Texas]]'' 
| The Waiter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1964
| ''[[Kisses for My President]]'' 
| The Usher 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1965
| ''[[Clarence, the Cross-Eyed Lion]]'' 
| Villager #2 
|
|-
| 1966
| ''[[Chamber of Horrors (1966 film)|Chamber of Horrors]]'' 
| Servant 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1967
| ''[[Hotel (1967 film)|Hotel]]'' 
| The Waiter 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1970
| ''[[There Was a Crooked Man... (1970 film)|There Was a Crooked Man...]]'' 
| Lomax Servant 
| Uncredited
|-
| 1971
| ''[[Skin Game]]'' 
| Ned 
|
|-
| 1974
| ''[[Busting]]'' 
| Rizzo's Butler 
|
|-
| 1974
| ''[[Black Samson]]'' 
| Henry "Old Henry"
|
|-
| 1975
| ''[[Farewell, My Lovely (1975 film)|Farewell, My Lovely]]'' 
| The Hotel Clerk 
|
|-
| 1975
| ''Fugitive Lovers'' 
| Arthur, The Valet 
|
|-
| 1978
| ''[[Every Girl Should Have One]]'' 
| Napoleon 
|
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name | id=0926022| name=Napoleon Whiting}}
* {{IBDB name|64819}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, Napoleon}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1984 deaths]]
[[Category:American male film actors]]
[[Category:American male television actors]]
[[Category:Male actors from Mississippi]]
[[Category:20th-century American male actors]]
[[Category:20th-century African-American male actors]]
[[Category:Western (genre) television actors]]