Billy West

Billy West (September 22, 1892 – July 21, 1975) was a silent film actor, producer, and director. Active during the silent film era, he is best known as a semi-successful Charlie Chaplin impersonator. Beyond acting, he also directed shorts in the 1910s and 20s, as well as produced films. West ultimately retired in 1935.

Born Roy B. Weisberg (or Weissberg) in the Russian Empire to a Jewish family, West emigrated to Chicago with his family in 1896. He appeared in many short films, first in Apartment No. 13 in 1912.

In 1917 movie theaters could not get enough Charlie Chaplin comedies, and an enterprising producer hired West, who had been doing comic pantomimes on the vaudeville stage, to make imitation-Chaplin subjects to meet the demand. West, wearing the identical "tramp" costume and makeup, copied Chaplin's movements and gestures so accurately that he is often mistaken for the genuine performer. Reportedly, Chaplin himself saw the Billy West company filming on a Hollywood street once, and told West, "You're a damned good imitator." Some West comedies were later re-released on the home-movie market as "Charlie Chaplin" pictures. Most of the West comedies of 1917–18 resembled the Chaplin comedies of 1916–17, with Oliver Hardy approximating the villainy of Eric Campbell, and Leatrice Joy in the Edna Purviance ingenue role.

King-Bee executives were determined to showcase West in a five-reel feature.

The feature was never produced.

West became his own producer at a point. Moving behind the cameras in 1925, West produced a brief series of slapstick comedies co-starring the fat-and-skinny team of Oliver "Babe" Hardy and Bobby Ray, and a series of "Winnie Winkle" comedies with Ethelyn Gibson.

West took small roles in sound films, first for small independent companies and later for Columbia Pictures.

He became manager of the Columbia Grill restaurant. He died July 21, 1975, of a heart attack while leaving the Hollywood Park racetrack. He is buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Kalton C. Lahue and Sam Gill wrote:

Unicorn Film Service (1916)

King-Bee Film Corporation (1917-1918)

Higrade Film Enterprises (1918)

Bull's Eye Film Corporation (1918-1919)

Reelcraft (1920)

Joan Comedies (1920-1921)

Sunrise Comedies (1922)

Smart Films (1922)

Broadway Comedies (1923-1925)

The Features (1926-1927)

Later Career