Biography
Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. Calloway was a master of energetic scat singing and led one of the United States' most popular African American big bands from the start of the 1930s through the late 1940s. Calloway's band featured performers including trumpeters Dizzy Gillespie and Adolphus "Doc" Cheatham, saxophonists Ben Webster and Leon "Chu" Berry, New Orleans guitar ace Danny Barker, and bassist Milt Hinton. Call...
Known For
Complete Filmography
Fleischer Cartoons: The Art & Inventions of Max Fleischer
2024
as The Old Man of the Mountain / Additional (voice)
A celebration of art by legendary animator Max Fleischer. Features: KoKo's Kozy Korner (1928), Somewhere in Dreamland (1936), Any Rags? (1932), Small ...

Everything's Fine
2020
as Himself (Voice)
An experimental short film using only free archival footage.

Cab Calloway: Sketches
2012
as Himself
A singer, dancer, and bandleader, Cab led one of the most popular African American big bands during the jazz and swing eras of the 1930s-40s, with Har...

The Harlem Renaissance
2004
as Self (archive footage)
Chronicling the Harlem Renaissance era, this retrospective documentary tracks the origins of the soulful music of the period, along with the challenge...

TV in Black: The First Fifty Years
2004
as Self (archive footage)
Discover how television has reflected the African American experience in this retrospective of the medium's first half-century. Actors, writers and hi...

Piano Blues
2003
as Self (archive footage)
Director — and piano player — Clint Eastwood explores his life-long passion for piano blues, using a treasure trove of rare historical footage in addi...

Grass
1999
as Self (archive footage)
Marijuana is the most controversial drug of the 20th Century. Smoked by generations to little discernible ill effect, it continues to be reviled by ma...

The Stories Behind the Making of 'The Blues Brothers'
1998
as Self (archive footage)
The Stories Behind the Making of The Blues Brothers is an hour- long documentary featuring every participant from the film. Star and co-writer Dan Ayk...

Betty Boop: Queen of the Cartoons
1995
as Self (archive footage)
From the A&E "Biography" series, a review of the birth, development and cinematic history of Betty Boop, the flapper cartoon character who has been a ...

Night of 100 Stars III
1990
as Self
A celebrity benefit for The Actors' Fund of America, featuring music, songs, dance and comedy.

Steve McQueen: Man on the Edge
1990
as Self (archive footage)
Abandoned by his father, he was a reform school kid with nothing going for him and a giant chip on his shoulder. He joined the Marines but never staye...

WrestleMania 2
1986
as Self
Emanating from New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, WrestleMania 2 features Hulk Hogan defending the WWF Championship against King Kong Bundy inside a ...

Night of 100 Stars II
1985
as Self
This special is the second "Night of 100 Stars" to benefit The Actors Fund of America. Edited from a seven-hour live entertainment marathon that was t...

The Blues Brothers
1980
as Curtis
Jake Blues, just released from prison, puts his old band back together to save the Catholic home where he and his brother Elwood were raised.
The Great Balloon Race
1977
A film by Chris Robinson.

Black Shadows on a Silver Screen
1975
as Self (archive footage)
Ossie Davis narrates a history of "race films," films made before 1950 which catered to a primarily black audience.

The Littlest Angel
1969
as Gabriel
Adapted from the book by Charles Tazewell. Michael, a shepherd boy living in Biblical times, finds himself transported to Heaven on his eighth birthda...

The Cincinnati Kid
1965
as Yeller
An up-and-coming poker player tries to prove himself in a high-stakes match against a long-time master of the game.

Schlager-Raketen
1960
as Self

St. Louis Blues
1958
as Blade
Will Handy grows up in Memphis with his preacher father and his Aunt Hagar. His father intends for him to use his musical gifts only in church, but he...

Jazz Ball
1956
as Self (archive footage)
A made-for-TV musical revue, compiled from soundies and film and TV performances by jazz greats from the 1930s to the 1950s.

Rhythm and Blues Revue
1955
as Self
Rhythm and Blues Revue is a plotless variety show, one of several compiled for theatrical exhibition from the made-for-television short films produced...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #1
1951
as Self
A 16mm black-and-white, silent home movie film by Cab and Zulme "Nuffie" Calloway during a tour of the Caribbean, with film edge code indicating a yea...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #3
1951
as Self
A compilation reel of 16mm home movies filmed by Cab and Zulme "Nuffie" Calloway during a tour of the Caribbean, with both Kodachrome and black-and-wh...

Cab Calloway Home Movie: Haiti
1951
as Self
16mm silent color film shot by Cab Calloway during his 1951 tour in Haiti. This film features footage of Cab Calloway and his band performing on an ou...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #1
1951
Director
A 16mm black-and-white, silent home movie film by Cab and Zulme "Nuffie" Calloway during a tour of the Caribbean, with film edge code indicating a yea...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #3
1951
Director
A compilation reel of 16mm home movies filmed by Cab and Zulme "Nuffie" Calloway during a tour of the Caribbean, with both Kodachrome and black-and-wh...

Cab Calloway Home Movie: Haiti
1951
Director
16mm silent color film shot by Cab Calloway during his 1951 tour in Haiti. This film features footage of Cab Calloway and his band performing on an ou...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #2
1950
as Self
A compilation reel of silent, black-and-white home movies featuring Cab Calloway and his family at their home in Long Island, NY and at the beach. It...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #4
1950
as Self
A compilation reel of 16mm home movies filmed by Cab Calloway during a tour of South America, with both Kodachrome and black-and-white film edge codes...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #2
1950
Director
A compilation reel of silent, black-and-white home movies featuring Cab Calloway and his family at their home in Long Island, NY and at the beach. It...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #4
1950
Director
A compilation reel of 16mm home movies filmed by Cab Calloway during a tour of South America, with both Kodachrome and black-and-white film edge codes...

Cab Calloway Home Movies
1948
A collection of home movies filmed from 1948-1951 featuring the legendary entertainer Cab Calloway and his wife Nuffie in their home on Long Beach and...

Cab Calloway Home Movies
1948
Director, Cinematography
A collection of home movies filmed from 1948-1951 featuring the legendary entertainer Cab Calloway and his wife Nuffie in their home on Long Beach and...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #5
1948
as Self
Compilation reel of 16mm color home movies of Cab Calloway and his family in Long Island, New York at Easter. The film also has footage of Calloway's ...

Cab Calloway Home Movie #5
1948
Director
Compilation reel of 16mm color home movies of Cab Calloway and his family in Long Island, New York at Easter. The film also has footage of Calloway's ...

Hi-De-Ho
1947
as Himself
Cab Calloway plays himself in a plot about jealousy, night clubs, and gangsters. Ends with a series of musical numbers.

We the Cats Shall Hep Ya
1945
as Himself
Cab Calloway sings "We the Cats Shall Hep Ya".

Blowtop Blues
1945
Cab Calloway performs "Blowtop Blues".

Foo a Little Bally-Hoo
1945
Cab Calloway sings "Foo a Little Bally-Hoo".

I Was Here When You Left Me
1945
Cab Calloway & Dotty Saulter perform "I Was Here When You Left Me".
Walking with My Honey
1945
Cab Calloway and his Orchestra perform "Walking with My Honey".

Caldonia
1945
as Himself
Louis Jordan, with his band, sings and performs the title song, "Caldonia,", and "Honey Child," "Tillie" and 'Buzz Me", wowing the jitter-buggers, zoo...

Sensations of 1945
1944
as Cab Calloway
As dancer Ginny Walker performs on stage, a veiled woman in the audience stands up, accuses Ginny of stealing her husband and then fires a gun at her....

Stormy Weather
1943
as Cab Calloway
The relationship between an aspiring dancer and a popular songstress provides a retrospective of the great African-American entertainers of the early ...

The Skunk Song
1942
Cab Calloway and The Cabaliers are singing about how The Big Bad Wolf only talks about his Disney money, Felix the Cat is fat and rich, and Mickey the...

Blues in the Night
1942
Cab Calloway and his Cabaliers sing "Blues in the Night".

Minnie the Moocher
1942
as Himself / Vocals
Cab Calloway performing his famous hit "Minnie the Moocher".

Manhattan Merry-Go-Round
1937
as Self
In this musical comedy, a crooked record producer uses his mob connections to force performers to do their stuff. The trouble really begins when the g...

Hi-De-Ho
1937
as Cab Calloway
Young Cab Calloway's mother is concerned, because Cab spends his days listening to the radio, pretending to lead a miniature orchestra. A deacon passi...

The Singing Kid
1936
as Cab Calloway
Neurotic Broadway star Al Jackson faces professional ruin when he loses his voice. While recuperating in the country, he falls in love with farm girl ...
Cab Calloway's Jitterbug Party
1935
Cab Calloway performs at the Cotton Club before he takes his friends down to Harlem for a jitterbug party.

Cab Calloway's Hi-De-Ho
1934
as Cab Calloway
This jazz musical short has a comedy plot about marital infidelity. Bandleader Cab Calloway plays a ladies man who dates the wife (Fredi Washington) o...

Betty Boop's Rise to Fame
1934
as Old Man / Reporter
A reporter interviews Max Fleischer about his creation, and Betty illustrates with excerpts from three prior cartoons.
Jazz Icons: Cab Calloway
1934
This riveting collection of jazz singer and bandleader Cab Calloway's most electrifying performances brings to life a bygone era of swinging jazz and ...

The Old Man of the Mountain
1933
as Himself & Old Man
Betty Boop goes to see the fearsome Old Man of the Mountain for herself; he sings the title song and a duet with Betty.

Snow-White
1933
as Koko the Clown (voice)
Trouble starts when the queen's magic mirror says Betty Boop is fairest.

International House
1933
as Cab Calloway
Foreign investors converge on a luxury hotel in China to bid on a new kind of radioscope. But, this is a hotel where Burns and Allen are the in-house ...

The Big Broadcast
1932
as as Cab Calloway Band
The top brass at a radio station believe their popular new star singer is paying more attention to his love life than to his career.

Minnie the Moocher
1932
as Cab Calloway
Betty Boop and Bimbo run away from home, but that night they are scared by a chorus of ghosts singing the title song.

Ebony Parade
N/A
as (archive footage)
Mantan Moreland hosts a series of filmed song, dance and band numbers by various artists, mostly released previously as individual "soundies".