thumb|[[Lew Dockstader]]

thumb|[[Bert Williams, shown here in blackface, was the highest-paid African-American entertainer of his day.]]

This is a list of entertainers known to have performed in blackface makeup, whether in a minstrel show, as satire or historical depiction of such roles, or in a portrayal of a character using makeup as a racial disguise, for whatever reason.

A–C

  • Roy Acuff, country music singer, performed in blackface in 1930s-40s traveling medicine shows
  • Scarlet Adams
  • Anne of Denmark, Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland, in The Masque of Blackness
  • Ant and Dec, in old Saturday Night Takeaway sketches
  • Fred Armisen, impersonating U.S. President Barack Obama on Saturday Night Live in 2008 and 2009
  • Clarence Ashley, 1910s-1940s singer and blackface comedian in traveling medicine shows
  • Fred Astaire, in Swing Time (1936) and in Easter Parade (1948)
  • Gene Autry
  • David Baddiel, while portraying Jason Lee on a 1995 episode of Fantasy Football League
  • Rita Baga
  • Marcus "Buff" Bagwell, while performing for World Championship Wrestling
  • Fay Bainter, as Topsy in a 1933 production of Uncle Tom's Cabin
  • Milt G. Barlow, 19th-century American minstrel
  • Ethel Barrymore, in the 1930 play Scarlet Sister Mary
  • Billy Barty, in Roman Scandals (1933) and Rabbit Test (1978)
  • Milton Berle in film Always Leave 'Em Laughing (1949)
  • Sergei Bondarchuk, in Othello (1956)
  • John Boulter, lead singer of the long-running Black and White Minstrel Show on the BBC
  • Zach Braff, in the Scrubs episodes "My Friend the Doctor" and "My Chopped Liver"
  • Frank Brower, 1840s-1860s minstrel performer
  • David Byrne, in a promotional video for Stop Making Sense (1984)
  • George Burns
  • John Byner, in season 3, episode 1 of Soap
  • Eddie Cantor, 1912-1927 performances in vaudeville and Ziegfeld Follies
  • Luke Carroll, an Aboriginal Australian actor, wore blackface in a dream sequence featured in the movie Stone Bros.
  • Judy Carne, in a 1969 episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Graham Chapman
  • Dave Chappelle, in a 2006 episode of Chappelle's Show
  • George Christy, born George Harrington but became a star with Christy's Minstrels in the 1840s
  • J. A. Coburn
  • Charles Correll in Dream House (1932), Mississippi (1935), Road to Singapore (1940), Holiday Inn (1942), Dixie (1943), and Here Come the Waves (1944)
  • Billy Crystal, in the "Negro Leagues" skit on Saturday Night Live in 1984 and whenever impersonating Sammy Davis Jr., including at the 84th Academy Awards.

D–G

  • Roger Daltrey in the CSI: Crime Scene Investigation episode "Living Legend".
  • Ted Danson, at a 1993 Friars Club roast of his then-girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg
  • Tommy Davidson in the 2000 film Bamboozled
  • Marion Davies in Going Hollywood (1933)
  • Shane Dawson, YouTuber, actor, and comedian
  • Neil Diamond in The Jazz Singer
  • Thomas Dilward, 1850s-1870s dwarf minstrel performer
  • George Washington Dixon, 1820s-1830s stage performer
  • Lew Dockstader, 1870s-1900s minstrel performer
  • Roma Downey in an episode of the television series Touched By An Angel entitled “Black Like Monica”, the character is turned black to better empathize with a community dealing with racial tensions.
  • Robert Downey Jr. in the 2008 film Tropic Thunder
  • Drake, during a 2007 photo shoot with photographer David Leyes, with one of the photos being used as the cover of Pusha-T's diss track, The Story of Adidon
  • Jimmy Durante
  • Harry Enfield, impersonating Nelson Mandela in the television show Harry & Paul, and playing Norbert Smith playing Nelson Mandela in Norbert Smith: A Life.
  • The Ethiopian Serenaders, a Boston minstrel troupe who performed at the White House in 1844 and then toured Britain.
  • Jimmy Fallon, impersonating Chris Rock on Saturday Night Live
  • Benny Fine of the Fine Brothers, in a two-parter Degrassi parody by Shane Dawson where he plays the character of Connor DeLaurier
  • Edwin Forrest
  • Dai Francis, lead singer of the long-running Black and White Minstrel Show on the BBC
  • Leigh Francis
  • The Frogs, in the artwork for their album Racially Yours and in their stage attire for the accompanying tour.
  • Judy Garland in Babes in Arms
  • George Givot, in the play The Constant Sinner (1931)
  • Freeman Gosden
  • Savion Glover in the 2000 film Bamboozled
  • Sam Hague
  • Jon Hamm on an episode of 30 Rock
  • Goldie Hawn, in a 1969 episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Charles Hicks
  • William A. Huntley Starting 1860. Moved to whiteface in mid-1880s.
  • Dick Powell performed in blackface while singing Al Jolson's "Sonny Boy" in Hard to Get (1938)
  • George Jessel also in The Playhouse (1921) and College (1927)
  • Billy Kersands, 1880s-1900s minstrel performer
  • Jimmy Kimmel, impersonating Karl Malone and Oprah Winfrey on The Man Show
  • Jane Krakowski twice on 30 Rock
  • Joey Lawrence, in season 4, episode 11 of Gimme a Break!, an episode criticizing blackface
  • Jennie Lee, in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation
  • Francis Leon, 1870s-80s minstrel performer
  • Eddie Leonard, 1890s-1930s minstrel performer, "last of the great minstrels"
  • Chris Lilley as Jonah Takalua and S.mouse
  • Walter Long, in the 1915 film The Birth of a Nation
  • Sophia Loren in Aida (1953)
  • Peter Lorre, in the play Weisse Fracht
  • Matt Lucas, multiple characters in Little Britain, Precious Little in Come Fly with Me
  • Sam Lucas, 1870s minstrel performer

M–R

  • Robert Mandan, in season 3, episode 1 of Soap
  • Pigmeat Markham, performer in 1920s-1950s traveling shows, as well as The Ed Sullivan Show and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Rob McElhenney on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, portraying the character of Mac, a white man portraying the character Roger Murtaugh from the Lethal Weapon franchise in a fanmade home movie
  • Joni Mitchell appeared as black dandy "Art Nouveau" at a party, then on the cover of Don Juan's Reckless Daughter in 1977 and on numerous occasions throughout the 1980s (see Joni Mitchell blackface controversy)
  • Emmett Miller,
  • Clayton McMichen
  • Cornelius J. O'Brien (1869–1954)
  • Laurence Olivier in Othello (1965)
  • Kaitlin Olson on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, portraying the character of Deandra Reynolds, a white woman portraying a black character in a fanmade home movie based on the Lethal Weapon franchise
  • Pat Paulsen doing a deadpan condemnation of ethnic humor on The Merv Griffin Show, but it wasn't aired
  • Richard Pelham
  • Thomas D. Rice
  • Benny Rubin
  • Ramblin' Tommy Scott
  • George Siegmann in character as Silas Lynch in The Birth of a Nation (1915)
  • Sarah Silverman, in episode "Face Wars" (2007) of The Sarah Silverman Program
  • Frank Sinatra, in the Major Bowes short The Big Minstrel (1935) and Ocean's Eleven (1960)
  • Grace Slick, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour (1968) and Teen Set magazine (1969)
  • Bessie Smith
  • Bert Swor (1878–1943)
  • Magda Szubanski, in various sketches for the Australian TV series, Fast Forward, most notably as the housemaid in a parody of Gone With the Wind.
  • Shirley Temple in The Littlest Rebel
  • Frank Tinney, in vaudeville and Broadway musical comedies
  • The Three Stooges
  • Lily Tomlin, as R&B singer Pervis Hawkins on CBS special and Saturday Night Live.
  • Tracey Ullman, in a 1989 episode of The Tracey Ullman Show
  • Ben Vereen, as a part of the 1981 inaugural celebrations for US President Ronald Reagan
  • Glen Vernon Actor who performed in blackface in Hollywood Varieties (1950) with fellow actor Edward Ryan
  • Vladimir Vysotsky, as Abram Gannibal in How Czar Peter the Great Married Off His Moor
  • Ted Waldman, comedy harmonica player
  • David Walliams, as a minstrel, and as character Desiree Devere in Little Britain
  • Robert Webb
  • Betty White, in The Golden Girls
  • Billy Whitlock
  • Barney Williams
  • Bert Williams
  • Bob Wills
  • Jane Withers in Can This Be Dixie?
  • Jo Anne Worley, in a 1969 episode of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
  • Mickey Mouse, in the 1933 cartoon Mickey's Mellerdrammer
  • Tom and Jerry (Van Beuren), Not to be confused with the cat and mouse duo. appeared in blackface in 'Plane Dumb' (1932)
  • Smith Family Stan, Steve, Hayley and Francine Smith appeared in blackface in 2007 American Dad! episode 'An Apocalypse to Remember'
  • Eric Cartman, Depicted in blackface in 1999 movie South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut and in episodes of South Park
  • Tom and Jerry, appeared in blackface in 'The Yankee Doodle Mouse' (1943) 'The Milky Waif' (1946) 'Mouse Cleaning' (1948) and 'Casanova Cat' (1951)
  • Dirty Dick, Used blackface in a recreation of The Black and White Minstrel Show in the 1972 Dandy Annual
  • Sylvester the Cat, appeared in blackface in 'I Taw a Putty Tat' (1948)
  • Lyons Tea Minstrels mascots of Lyons Tea. Discontinued sometime in the 1990s
  • Ling-Ling, In Foxxy Vs. The Board Of Education (2005)

See also

  • Examples of yellowface
  • Kake Walk at UVM digital collection, Center for Digital Initiatives, University of Vermont Libraries

References

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