Eddie 'Rochester' Anderson

In the meantime, Amos and Andy depicted African-Americans in more typical working class and professional roles.
. That said, Anderson was playing a servant, as with other shows with African-American leads, such as Ethel Waters in Beulah. He was in, amongst other radio credits, "Shadow Man" on Radio Luxembourg in 1955, "Destination - Fire!" on BBC (Early 1960s), General Sternwood in a BBC version of Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep" (1977), "Pay Any Price" (BBC 1982), "The Mystery of the Blue Train" (BBC 1985/1986), as Henry Hickslaughter in Elizabeth Troop's Sony Award winning adaptation of Graham Greene's short story "Cheap In August" (1993). Benny's call of "Rochester," and Anderson's answers (often a raspy "Yes, Boss," but just as often a snappy joke at Benny's expense) were among the weekly highlights of the show, and some newspapers reportedly listed the show as The Eddie Anderson Show, with Benny relegated to a secondary role (this despite the show's opening title being repeated each week by announcer Don Wilson). His movie credits include: Another Shore (1948), The Square Ring (1953), The Amorous Prawn (1962), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), Where Eagles Dare (1968), The Pink Panther Strikes Again(1976) and Superman IV: The Quest for Peace (1987). Anderson was as responsible as was Benny for the show's tremendous success across so many segments of American society, and the relationship between Anderson and Benny became more complex and intimate as the years went by. He was in Franco Zeffirelli's tv mini-series of "Jesus of Nazareth" and the American tv series of Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles".

(Anderson was of course not Benny's butler in real life, as many listeners of the time apparently thought in somewhat condescending fashion.) Anderson was also well-known for his role in the groundbreaking musical film, Cabin in the Sky. He appeared in British television shows such as Dial 999, Doctor Who, Blake's 7, The Gathering Storm, The New Avengers, and Minder. Eddie "Rochester" Anderson (September 18, 1905 - February 28, 1977) was an African-American comic actor and star of movies, television and especially old-time radio, where he played the butler Rochester to Jack Benny's eponymous title character on The Jack Benny Show. The series was made available to overseas broadcasters by the BBC Transcription Service. Other stories followed and were presented by BBC radio over the years from 1947 to 1961. The series debuted on BBC radio with the story "Lady in a Fog" in October 1947.

Robert Beatty played Philip Odell, a fictional Irish detective created by Lester Powell. Robert Beatty (born 19 October 1909, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada and died 3 March 1992, London, England, UK) was a Canadian actor who worked in radio, film and television for most of his career and was especially known in the United Kingdom.