James Baskett
James Franklin Baskett (February 16, 1904 – July 9, 1948) was an American actor who portrayed Uncle Remus in the 1946 Disney feature film Song of the South. His performance included singing the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah". In recognition of his portrayal of Remus, he was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1948.
Also recorded as Jimmie Baskette · James Franklin Baskett
James Baskett

film screenshot (Monogram Pictures) · Public domain
- Name
- James Baskett
- Born
- 16 February 1904
- Birthplace
- Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
- Died
- 9 July 1948
- Place of death
- Los Angeles, California, U.S.
- Occupation
- * Actor
- Spouse
- Margaret Baskett
- Nationality
- United States.
- Honours
- Academy Honorary Award.
- Languages
- English.
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
James Franklin Baskett (February 16, 1904 – July 9, 1948) was an American actor who portrayed Uncle Remus in the 1946 Disney feature film Song of the South. His performance included singing the song "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah". In recognition of his portrayal of Remus, he was given an Honorary Academy Award in 1948.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Note VALÉORINE
No house-authored Note is published until its assertions and sources pass the VALÉORINE evidence contract. The documentary article remains available in full while that enrichment is being consolidated.
Documentary enrichment in progress · no unsupported statement published
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for James Baskett. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Evidence Panel
not yet certified
- Identity
- resolved
- Independent source families
- 0
- Admitted assertions
- 0
- Open conflicts
- 0
Authority files
wikidata · Q722946 · wikipedia · James Baskett
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — James Baskett • Born — 16 February 1904 • Birthplace — Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S. • Died — 9 July 1948 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Resting Place — Crown Hill Cemetery (Indianapolis, Indiana) and Arboretum, Section 37, Lot 602 • Other Names — * Jimmie Baskette • Jimmy Baskette • Jim Basquette • Years Active — 1929–1948 • Occupation — * Actor • singer • Spouse — Margaret Baskett
Career
Career
• Illustration — Baskett in Harlem Is Heaven (1932), in which Variety described his portrayal of "Money" Johnson as "very impressive" Baskett studied pharmacology as a young man but gave it up to pursue an acting career. He first moved to New York City, New York, where he joined up with Bill 'Mr. Bojangles' Robinson. Using the name Jimmie Baskette, he appeared with Louis Armstrong on Broadway in the 1929 black musical revue Hot Chocolates and in several all-black New York films, including Harlem is Heaven (1932). He later moved to Los Angeles, California, and had a supporting role in the film Straight to Heaven (1939), starring Nina Mae McKinney. In 1941 he voiced Fats Crow in the animated Disney film Dumbo, and he also had bit parts in several B movies, including that of Lazarus in Revenge of the Zombies (1943), a porter in The Heavenly Body (1944), and native tribal leader Orbon in Jungle Queen (1945). From 1944 until 1948, he was part of the cast of the Amos 'n' Andy Show live radio program as lawyer Gabby Gibson. In 1945, he auditioned for a bit part voicing one of the animals in the new Disney feature film Song of the South (1946), based on the Uncle Remus stories by Joel Chandler Harris. Walt Disney was impressed with Baskett's talent and hired him on the spot for the lead role of Uncle Remus. Baskett was also given the voice role of Br'er Fox, one of the film's animated antagonists, and also filled in as the main animated protagonist, Br'er Rabbit, in one sequence. This was one of the first Hollywood portrayals of a black actor as a non-comic character in a leading role in a film meant for general audiences. Baskett was prohibited from attending the film's premiere in Atlanta, Georgia, because Atlanta was racially segregated by law. Although Baskett was occasionally criticized for accepting such a "demeaning" role (most of his acting credits were that of African-American stereotypes), his acting was almost universally praised, and columnist Hedda Hopper, along with Walt Disney, was one of the many journalists and personalities who declared that he should receive an Academy Award for his work. Baskett defended the film and his character in it, saying, "I believe that certain groups are doing my race more harm in seeking to create dissension, than can ever possibly come out of the Song of the South."
Illness and death
Illness and death
Baskett had been in poor health during the filming of Song of the South due to chronic heart and kidney disease, and he suffered a heart attack in December 1946 shortly after its release. His health continued to decline, and he was often unable to attend the Amos 'n' Andy radio show he was on, missing almost half of the 1947–1948 season. On July 9, 1948, during the show's summer hiatus, James Baskett died at his home of heart failure at age 44. He was survived by his wife Margaret and his mother Elizabeth. He is buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis. • Illustration — Dedication tombstone for James Baskett at Crown Hill Cemetery • Illustration — Tombstone for James Baskett and John Baskett at Crown Hill Cemetery
Filmography
Filmography
• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1932 — Harlem Is Heaven — Money Johnson — Film debut; credited as Jimmy Baskette • 1933 — 20,000 Cheers for the Chain Gang — Vocalist — Uncredited • 1938 — Gone Harlem — unknown — Credited as Jimmie Baskette • Policy Man • 1939 — Straight to Heaven — First Detective • 1940 — Comes Midnight — unknown • 1941 — Dumbo — Fats Crow (voice) — Uncredited • 1943 — Revenge of the Zombies — Lazarus — Alternative title: The Corpse Vanished • 1944 — The Heavenly Body — Porter — Uncredited • 1945 — Jungle Queen — Orbon — Credited as Jim Basquette • 1946 — Song of the South — * Uncle Remus * Br'er Fox (voice) * Br'er Rabbit ("Laughing Place" segment) (voice) — Last film roles
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 1 entries
1948
James Baskett died at Los Angeles.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
Indianapolis.
Birth place
Los Angeles.
Death place
Academy Honorary Award
On March 20, 1948, Baskett received an Academy Honorary Award for his performance as Uncle Remus. He was the first African-American male actor to earn an Academy Award. Additionally, Baskett was the last adult actor to receive an Honorary Oscar for a single performance.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1."Harlem Is Heaven", Variety (New York, N.Y.), June 7, 1932, page 20. Retrieved January 30, 2018.
- 2.Movies till Dawn: Almost Weirder Than Now. April 7, 2020.
- 3.Jungle Queen. April 16, 2015.
- 4.As Jim Korkis notes, "Song of the South came out in 1946 and there was no balance of media images... African American performers often portrayed comic roles where their characters were described as lazy, slow-witted, easily scared or flustered, subservient and worse. That image was what the American public was seeing and accepting as the norm for African Americans." Jim Korkis, "The Sad Song of the South", USA Today (accessed 24 August 2013)
- 5.In a 15 October 1946 article in the Atlanta Constitution, columnist Harold Martin noted that to bring Baskett to Atlanta, where he would not have been allowed to participate in any of the festivities, "would cause him many embarrassments, for his feelings are the same as any man's." The modern claim that no Atlanta hotel would give Baskett accommodation is false: there were several black-owned hotels in Atlanta at the time, including the Savoy and the McKay. Atlanta's Black-Owned Hotels: A History .
- 6.Bayor, Ronald H. Roads to Racial Segregation: Atlanta in the Twentieth Century. Journal of Urban History. 15. 1. 3–21. 1988. 10.1177/009614428801500101.
- 7.Frost, Frost. Hedda Hopper, Hollywood Gossip, and the Politics of Racial Representation in Film, 1946-1948. The Journal of African American History. 93. 1. 36–63. Winter 2008. 10.1086/JAAHv93n1p36.
- 8.Death Certificate #11622, Dated July 12, 1948
- 9.Old-time.com
- 10.http://www.afi.com/members/catalog/DetailView.aspx?s=&Movie=24973
- 11.Auchmutey, Jim. Finding Uncle Remus. accessatlanta.com. 2006-11-12.
- 12.Cohen, Karl F. Forbidden Animation: Censored Cartoons and Blacklisted Animators in America. McFarland. 61. 2004. 978-0-7864-2032-2.
- 13.Indiana University Press. The Encyclopedia of Indianapolis. 485. 1994. 978-0-253-31222-8.
- 14.Mitchell, Dawn. Indianapolis actor famous for 'Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah' was groundbreaking Oscars recipient. The Indianapolis Star. February 22, 2019.
- 15.Brayton, Tim. Black History Month: Song of the South's Forgotten Oscar. The Film Experience. February 11, 2015.
- 16.Murfin, Patrick. An Oscar for Uncle Remus. Heretic, Rebel, a Thing to Flout. March 21, 2013.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Partially resolvedreference work
Partially resolved
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Music memorabilia
42,307 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- James "Stump" JohnsonPerson
- James AllanPerson
- James ArthurPerson
- James BarnesPerson
- James BayPerson
- James BernardPerson
- James BlakePerson
- James Blood UlmerPerson
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by James Baskett?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.