Bert Williams

Bert Williams (1874-1922)
Photo-Portrait with Cigarette
(wikimedia)
no copyright infringement intended

he was the funniest man I ever saw... and the saddest man I ever met (W. C. Fields)

one of the prominent entertainers of the Vaudeville era, and one of the most popular comedians for all audiences of his time (wiki)

when he collapsed, it was during a performance, and the audience thought it was his comic número; his last words were, it's a nice way to die; he didn't recover and soon passed away; he was 47 (wiki)

he played in three movies, all of them also directed by him, produced by Biograph, a NY film company of fame in the first two decades of the 20th century; one of these three films was long time lost, and rediscovered recently; actually I found this information today and it put me on his traces; and thus I came upon a superb vintage collection of tunes and short movies from those times, the perfumed charm that only bygones posses.

• Nobody
• A Natural Born Gambler
• Bert Williams Line Kiln Field Day Project
• Play That Barbershop Chord

(Early Movies)