Matinee Classics - Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson Biography & Filmography

Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson ACTOR

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EDDIE 'ROCHESTER' ANDERSON BIOGRAPHY & FILMOGRAPHY:

Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson was born on September 18th, 1905 in Oakland, California with the birth name Edmund L. Anderson, born to 'Big Ed' and Ella Mae Anderson.

He began his career in the entertainment industry at the age of fourteen appearing with an African-American revue and later performed as a vaudeville performer with his older brother. This experience eventually lead to performing in theaters in New York and then making the moved out west to perform at he Los Angeles Cotton Club.

Anderson soon broke into the film industry appearing in un-credited roles in such films as, "False Faces" (1932) starring Lowell Sherman, Peggy Shannon and Lila Lee, "Billion Dollar Scandal" (1933) starring Robert Armstrong, Constance Cummings, Olga Baclanova, Frank Morgan, James Gleason, Irving Pichel Sidney Toler and Frank Albertson, "Terror Aboard" (1933) starring John Halliday, Charlie Ruggles, Shirley Grey, Neil Hamilton, Jack La Rue, Verree Teasdale and Stanley Fields and "The Gay Bride" (1934) starring Carole Lombard and Chester Morris.

His first feature role was in 1936 in the film, "The Green Pastures" starring Rex Ingram, Edna Mae Harris and Oscar Polk and then he really began to reach a new level of popularity when he was first cast as a guest on the radio as part of "The Jack Benny Program", partnered with comedian, Jack Benny in 1938. This was his big career break and he was so loved by viewers, he became a part of the radio show as a regular cast member portraying character, Rochester.

Along with working on the radio, Anderson continued adding film credits to his resume. Some of his more well known feature film roles were in, "Show Boat" (1936) starring Irene Dunne, Paul Robeson, Allan Jones, Helen Morgan, Charles Middleton, J. Farrell MacDonald, Clarence Muse and Hattie McDaniel just to name a few, "Bill Cracks Down" (1937) starring Grant Withers, Beatrice Roberts, Judith Allen, Ranny Weeks, William Newell, Pierre Watkin, Roger Williams and Georgia Caine, "You Can't Take it with You" (1938) starring Jean Arthur, Lionel Barrymore, James Stewart, Edward Arnold, Ann Miller, Spring Byington, Dub Taylor, Mischa Auer and Ward Bond, "Kentucky" (1938), "Jezebel" (1938) starring alongside Bette Davis, Henry Fonda, George Brent, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Crisp, Richard Cromwell, Irving Pichel, John Litel, Henry O'Neill and Fay Bainter, "Gone With the Wind" (1939) starring Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard, Thomas Mitchell, Rand Brooks, George Reeves, Hattie McDaniel, Butterfly McQueen, Ann Rutherford, Victor Jory, Ward Bond, Cliff Edwards and Yakima Canutt, "Man About Town" (1939) starring Jack Benny, Dorothy Lamour, Edward Arnold, Binnie Barnes, Phil Harris, Monty Woolley, Isabel Jeans and Betty Grable, "Buck Benny Rides Again" (1940) starring Jack Benny, Ellen Drew, Andy Devine, Phil Harris, Virginia Dale, Lillian Cornell and Dennis Day, "Love Thy Neighbor" (1940), "Birth of the Blues" (1941) starring Bing Crosby, Mary Martin and Brian Donlevy, "Tales of Manhattan" (1942) starring alongside Charles Boyer, Henry Fonda, Charles Laughton, Edward G. Robinson, Ethel Waters, Paul Robeson, Rita Hayworth, Ginger Rogers, Thomas Mitchell, Eugene Pallette, Roland Young, Marion Martin, Elsa Lanchester, George Sanders, Victor Francen, W.C. Fields, James Gleason, Gail Patrick, Frank Orth, Clarence Muse, J. Carrol Naish, Morris Ankrum and Cesar Romero, "Cabin in the Sky" (1943) co-starring Ethel Waters, Lena Horne, Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong and "Stormy Weather" (1943) starring Lena Horne, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson, Cab Calloway, Fats Waller, Katherine Dunham, Ada Brown, Dooley Wilson and the Nicholas Brothers dancing duo.

After appearing in the films, "I Love a Bandleader" (1945) starring Phil Harris and Leslie Brooks, "The Sailor Takes a Wife" (1945) starring Robert Walker, June Allyson and Hume Cronyn and "The Show-Off" (1946) co-starring Red Skelton, Marjorie Main, Virginia O'Brien and Marilyn Maxwell, Anderson began to work on numerous television shows, such as, "The Red Skelton Hour", "Shower of the Stars", "Bachelor Father" and "The Jack Benny Program", which aired from 1950 through 1965 and a total of 176 episodes.

After the end of this popular series, he remained working in the industry with his most recent work being on the television series, "Love, American Style", "Harlem Globe Trotters" and voice over work for the animated, "The New Scooby-Doo Movies".

He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his contribution to radio and he was also inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001.

Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson married once and had a total of four children, one whom was adopted. In 1954, his wife passed away from cancer and about twenty years later, Anderson lost his life on February 28th, 1977 in Los Angeles, California after being unable to overcome a heart ailment. His remains are interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Filmography