Editing Scatman Crothers (section)

==Film and television career==
[[File:Scatman Crothers Redd Foxx Sanford and Son 1975.JPG|thumb|upright|Crothers appearing with [[Redd Foxx]] on ''[[Sanford and Son]]'']]

Crothers made his film debut in the movie ''[[Meet Me at the Fair]]'' (1953).<ref name="Cohen" /> He had roles in the film musical ''[[Hello, Dolly! (film)|Hello Dolly!]]'' (1969) and ''[[The Great White Hope (film)|The Great White Hope]]'' (1970) before providing the voice of Scat Cat in the animated film  ''[[The Aristocats]]'' (1970).<ref name="Harlem" /> Crothers appeared in four films with [[Jack Nicholson]]: ''[[The King of Marvin Gardens]]'' (1972), ''[[The Fortune]]'' (1975), ''[[One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (film)|One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest]]'' (1975), and ''[[The Shining (film)|The Shining]]'' (1980). He had the part of a [[African American culture#Oral tradition|fable-telling]] convict in the animated film ''[[Coonskin (film)|Coonskin]]'' (1975), a train porter in ''[[Silver Streak (film)|Silver Streak]]'' (1976), a liveryman in ''[[The Shootist]]'' (1976), Mingo in ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]<ref name="Harlem" />'' (1977), Tinker the piano player in Neil Simon's ''[[The Cheap Detective]]'' (1978), a ringmaster in ''[[Bronco Billy]]'' (1980), a baseball coach in ''[[Zapped!]]'' (1982), and angels in ''[[Two of a Kind (1983 film)|Two of a Kind]]'' (1983) and ''[[Twilight Zone: The Movie]]'' (1983).

Crothers became the first black person to appear regularly in a Los Angeles television show when he joined ''Dixie Showboat''.<ref name="Cohen" /> After ''The Aristocats'' in the 1970s, Crothers found voice acting jobs as Meadowlark Lemon in the ''[[Harlem Globetrotters (TV series)|Harlem Globetrotters]]'' cartoon series and as the title character in ''[[Hong Kong Phooey]]''. For four years, he played the role of Louie the garbage man on ''[[Chico and the Man]]''. During his appearance on ''Sanford and Son'' Crothers joined [[Redd Foxx]] for two musical numbers. One was a version of the standard "[[All of Me (Ruth Etting song)|All of Me]]", in which he accompanied Foxx on [[tenor guitar]]. In 1966, [[Hanna-Barbera]] aired an animated special called ''[[Alice in Wonderland or What's a Nice Kid like You Doing in a Place like This?|The New Alice in Wonderland (or What's a Nice Kid like You Doing in a Place like This?)]]'', an updated version of the [[Lewis Carroll]] story featuring [[Sammy Davis Jr.]] as the [[Cheshire Cat]]. The special was followed by an audio adaptation for HB Records, but since Davis was signed to [[Reprise Records]], Crothers provided the cat's voice for the album.

Crothers had guest roles on ''[[Alfred Hitchcock Presents]]'' in 1958, ''[[Dragnet (1967 TV series)|Dragnet]]'' in 1967, ''[[Bewitched]]'' and ''[[McMillan & Wife]]'' in 1971, ''[[Adam-12]]'' in 1972 (as "George Strothers"), ''[[Kojak]]'' and ''[[Ironside (TV series)|Ironside]]'' in 1973, ''[[Kolchak: The Night Stalker]], [[Mannix]]'' and ''[[Sanford and Son]]'' in 1974,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mannix |url=https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/mannix/episodes-season-8/1000075986/ |access-date=2024-05-16 |website=TVGuide.com |language=en}}</ref> ''[[Starsky and Hutch|Starsky & Hutch]]'' in 1977, ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'' and ''[[The Love Boat]]'' in 1978, ''[[Magnum, P.I.]]'' in 1980, ''[[Benson (TV series)|Benson]]'' in 1982, and ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]'' in 1983. Also in 1980, he was on two episodes of ''[[Laverne & Shirley]]'' as a porter. In the 1980s, he provided the voice of the Autobot [[Jazz (Transformers)|Jazz]] on the television series ''[[The Transformers (TV series)|The Transformers]]''. He starred in three short-lived 1980s television series: ''[[One of the Boys (American TV series)|One of the Boys]]'' (1982), ''[[Casablanca (1983 TV series)|Casablanca]]'' (1983), and ''Morningstar/Eveningstar'' (1986).