sheb wooley was the black actor in blazing saddles.
sheb wooley was the black actor in blazing saddles.
who was the black actor in blazing saddles?
sheb wooley
cleavon little









































cleavon jake little (june 1, 1939 – october 22, 1992) was an american stage, film, and television actor. he began his career in the late 1960s on the stage. in 1970, he starred in the broadway production of "purlie", for which he earned both a drama desk award and a tony award. his first leading television role was that of the irreverent dr. jerry noland on the abc sitcom "temperatures rising" (1972–1974). while starring in the sitcom, little appeared in what has become his signature performance, portraying sheriff bart in the 1974 mel brooks comedy film "blazing saddles".
cleavon little
in 1989, louis gossett, jr. told "entertainment tonight", "cbs and warner bros. made a deal. ... the deal was that cbs would get to air "blazing saddles", and any sequels from the movie, in exchange for co-producing a tv show. at the time warners wanted to make "blazing saddles" into a comedy series of films, a new one coming out every year or so. they wanted to use the model that the brits had for the "carry on" films. but [mel] brooks had a clause in his contract that said warner had to keep producing "blazing saddles" stories, in the movies or tv, or they'd lose the rights to make sequels. the tv show was a way to keep the rights. they didn't have to air it, just keep producing it. so for four years i spent my winter on a soundstage being paid to be in a show that would never see the light of day, just so warners could keep the sequel rights to "blazing saddles". by 1979 they finally figured out the market had changed and they weren't going to make any sequels, so we were cancelled, if a show that never was supposed to air can be cancelled."
blazing saddles