Bill Robinson
Birthday
1878/05/25
Day of death
1949/11/25 (71 years old)
Gender
Male
Place of Birth
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Also know as
Luther Robinson, Bojangles
Biography
According to one jazz dance source, Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson was the chief instigator for getting tap dance "up on its toes." Early forms of tap, including the familiar "buck and wing", contained a flat-footed style, while Robinson performed on the balls of his feet with a shuffle-tap style that allowed him more improvisation. It obviously got him noticed and it certainly made him a legend. Born Luther Robinson in Richmond, Virginia, on May 25, 1878, he was orphaned in infancy and reared by a ...Read more
Acting
(1938) Just Around the Corner
as Samuel G. Henshaw
(1943) Stormy Weather
as Bill Williamson
(1935) The Littlest Rebel
as Uncle Billy
(1938) Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
as Aloysius
(1937) One Mile from Heaven
as Officer Joe Dudley
(1935) The Big Broadcast of 1936
as Specialty
(1934) King for a Day
as Bill Green
(1935) Hooray for Love
as Bill Robinson
(1930) Dixiana
as Specialty Dancer
(1935) In Old Kentucky
as Wash Jackson
(1935) In Old Kentucky
as Greyboy
(2004) The Harlem Renaissance
as Self (archive footage)
(1938) Road Demon
as Zephyr
(1942) Let's Scuffle
as HImself
(1932) Harlem Is Heaven
as Bill
(1935) The Little Colonel
as Walker
(1938) Up the River
as Memphis Jones
(2011) Dancetime Tap Dance History
as ---
(1985) That's Dancing!
as ---
(1942) By an Old Southern River
as Self
(1948) The Ed Sullivan Show
as Self