[3] His highest profile was during the 1930s in films and on stage, when his persona of Stepin Fetchit was billed as the "Laziest Man in the World".

Perry parlayed the Fetchit persona into a successful film career, becoming the first black actor to earn $1 million.

Around that time, Black Americans began to see his Stepin Fetchit persona as an embarrassing and harmful anachronism, echoing negative stereotypes.

However, the Stepin Fetchit character has undergone a re-evaluation by some scholars in recent times, who view him as an embodiment of the trickster archetype.

His accounts of how he adopted the name varied, but generally he claimed that it originated when he performed a vaudeville act with a partner.

[8] Perry played comic-relief roles in a number of films, all based on his character known as the "Laziest Man in the World".

[11] Jules Bledsoe provided Perry's singing voice for his role as Joe in the 1929 version of Show Boat.

In 1940, Perry temporarily stopped appearing in films, having been frustrated by his unsuccessful attempt to get equal pay and billing with his white costars.

[13] He became a friend of heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali in the 1960s,[4] allegedly converting to the Nation of Islam shortly before.

[16] He found himself in conflict during his career with civil rights leaders who criticized him personally for the film roles that he portrayed.

In 1968, CBS aired the hour-long documentary Black History: Lost, Stolen, or Strayed, written by Andy Rooney (for which Rooney received an Emmy Award)[17] and narrated by Bill Cosby, which criticized the depiction of black people in American film, and especially singled out Stepin Fetchit for criticism.

[6][failed verification] In late November 1963, Perry collaborated with Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. and Esther Gordy Edwards in composing "May What He Lived for Live," a song intended to honor the memory of President John F. Kennedy in the wake of his assassination.

Martin Luther King Jr.[18] Perry suffered a stroke in 1976,[4] ending his acting career; he then moved into the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital.

[20] Perry spawned imitators, such as Willie Best ("Sleep 'n Eat") and Mantan Moreland, the scared, wide-eyed manservant of Charlie Chan.

In the sound Our Gang era, black actors Matthew Beard and Billie Thomas were featured.

This technique, which developed during American slavery, was referred to as "putting on old massa", and it was a kind of con art with which black audiences of the time would have been familiar.

[5] In 1931, Dorothy filed for divorce, stating that Perry had broken her nose, jaw, and arm with "his fists and a broomstick.