American Vaudeville Museum

All material © 1998-2008 American Museum of Vaudeville, Inc.  Page 12

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Eddie “Rochester” Anderson

For more information about Eddie Anderson send for Volume II, Issue #3 of

Vaudeville Times

Eddie Anderson had a successful career behind him as a singing and dancing comic when he was hired by the Jack Benny radio show to impersonate a railway porter.  The audience reaction was so strong that Jack and writers created an ongoing role as Rochester Van Jones for the raspy-voiced comic.  After Jack, Rochester was likely the most popular member of the cast and he stayed with the show from its radio days through its T evenings.

As popular as his Rochester role was and as closely identified as he was with it, Eddie Anderson managed to sustain a parallel career with films such as Green Pastures, You Can’t Take It with You, Cabin in the Sky and Topper Returns.