Watch Dooley Wilson Videos

Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an American actor and singer. He was born in Tyler, Texas, and is remembered as piano-player "Sam" who sings "As Time Goes By" at the request of Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) in the 1942 film, Casablanca - the Sam in the famously misremembered line "Play it again, Sam" -- a phrase which was never actually spoken in the film. Wilson, an African-American, was a drummer and singer who led his own band in the 1920s, touring nightclubs in London and Paris. In the 1930s he took up acting for good, playing supporting roles onstage and in a... MORE

Arthur "Dooley" Wilson (April 3, 1886 – May 30, 1953) was an American actor and singer. He was born in Tyler, Texas, and is remembered as piano-player "Sam" who sings "As Time Goes By" at the request of Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman) in the 1942 film, Casablanca - the Sam in the famously misremembered line "Play it again, Sam" -- a phrase which was never actually spoken in the film. Wilson, an African-American, was a drummer and singer who led his own band in the 1920s, touring nightclubs in London and Paris. In the 1930s he took up acting for good, playing supporting roles onstage and in a series of modest films. His role in Casablanca was by far his most famous, but his other films included My Favorite Blonde (1942, with Bob Hope), Stormy Weather (1943, with Lena Horne and the Nicholas Brothers), and the 1951 western Passage West. Wilson sang and played the drums in black clubs in the Tyler area before he moved to Chicago. He worked in black theatre in Chicago and New York for most of the period from 1908 to the 1930s, although in the 1920s he toured Europe as a drummer in a band. From the 1930s to the 1950s he worked in motion pictures and Broadway musicals, and played the role of LESS