Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
5/25/1878
Place of Birth
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Also Known As
Luther RobinsonBojangles Bill "Bojangles" Robinson
Bill Robinson
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 grandmother. He took his brother Bill's name for his own once he went professional. His brother, in ...
Known For
The Littlest Rebel
as Uncle Billy
That's Dancing!
Unknown Role
One Mile from Heaven
as Officer Joe Dudley
Hooray for Love
as himself
Just Around the Corner
as Samuel G. Henshaw
Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults
as Self (Archival Footage)
The Big Broadcast of 1936
as Specialty
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
as Aloysius
Up the River
as Memphis Jones
In Old Kentucky
as Greyboy
In Old Kentucky
as Wash Jackson
The Little Colonel
as Walker
Dixiana
as Specialty Dancer
The Harlem Renaissance
as Self (archive footage)
Dancetime Tap Dance History
Unknown Role
Stormy Weather
as Bill Williamson
Harlem Is Heaven
as Bill
The Big Benefit
as Self