Wissenswertes

Like Mark Twain (1835-1910), he was born the year Halley's Comet returned to Earth (April 20, 1910) and died the year the comet came back around (November 22, 1986).

Was close friends with Jack Nicholson. They appeared together in four films: Der König von Marvin Gardens (1972), Einer flog über das Kuckucksnest (1975), Mitgiftjäger (1975), and Shining (1980).

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6712 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on April 8, 1981.

Continued to work on television after being diagnosed with lung cancer (1985), which then spread to his esophagus.

Passed away 11 days after the passing of Roger C. Carmel. Their final feature film was Transformers - Der Kampf um Cybertron (1986), where they voiced two characters on opposing sides: Jazz, the Autobot (Crothers) and Cyclonus, the Decepticon (Carmel).

His nickname is from his skill at singing "scat". This is a form of bebop jazz that involves the rhythmic singing of nonsense syllables in a complex and musical way (such as "be-ba-doo-wah"). Famous scat singers include such stars as Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, and Louis Armstrong. The complex scat melodies segued back into versions with lyrics by such artists as Joni Mitchell. Scat is the direct ancestor of "doo-wop" singing and one of the ancestors of hip-hop.

He was awarded the 1981 Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor as Dick Hallorann in Stanley Kubrick's horror classic Shining (1980).

Posthumously inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame in Oakland, California (1987).

Stanley Kubrick's horror classic Shining (1980) was released in the theaters of the United States on his 70th birthday (May 23, 1980).

He has appeared in two films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Einer flog über das Kuckucksnest (1975) and Shining (1980).

Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.

Had one daughter: Donna Crothers (born 1949).

Had appeared as a guest musician on the local music program The Spade Cooley Show (1950). Cooley, a white Western swing musician, hosted the show for a local Los Angeles television station.

Some sources erroneously credit him as Billie Holiday's jilting lover in the Duke Ellington one-reeler, "Symphony in Black" (1936), a role actually portrayed by Earl 'Snake Hips' Tucker. The song Billie sang was "Saddest Tale".

Biography in: "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives". Volume Two, 1986-1990, pages 215-216. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons (1999).

Born on the same date as Artie Shaw.