Levi Stubbs of Mother Brain in the animated TV series "" (1989). Stubbs also guest-starred in a number of TV shows as himself. Berry Gordy offered him the role of Louis McKay in the 1972 film "Lady Sings the Blues", which would have starred him opposite Diana Ross as Billie Holiday. Stubbs turned the role down, however, once again not wishing to overshadow the other members of the Four Tops. Stubbs has been regarded by some as one of the quintessential male soul singers. According to AllMusic's Ed Hogan, the vocalist had a "pleading urgency in his voice that perfectly captured the
George Stubbs included a large segment on Stubbs. In 1959 Mellon and Taylor first met and bonded over their appreciation of Stubbs. This led Mellon to create the Paul Mellon Foundation for British Art (The predecessor of the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art) with Taylor as the director. Mellon eventually amassed the largest collection of Stubbs paintings in the world which would become a part of his larger collection of British art that would become the Yale Center for British Art. In 1971, Taylor published the seminal catalogue, "Stubbs". The record price for a Stubbs painting was set by