Profile of Billie 'Buckwheat' Thomas on Famous Like Me

Billie Thomas (originally William Thomas, Jr.) (March 12, 1931–October 10, 1980) was an African-American child actor best remembered for portraying the character of Buckwheat in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) short films from 1934 until the series' end in 1944. He was a native of Los Angeles, California.

Although the character he played was often the subject of controversy in later years for containing elements of the "pickaninny" stereotype, Thomas always defended his work in the series, pointing out the fact that Buckwheat and the rest of the black Our Gang kids were treated as being equal with the white kids in the series. The 1980s animated series addressed the problem by changing Buckwheat into a clever inventor who is always building ingenious machines for the gang.

After Our Gang was discontinued in 1944, Thomas played some small parts in other films, but soon left show business all together. As an adult, he worked as a film lab technician with the Technicolor corporation.

He died following a heart attack on October 10, 1980, in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 49.

The year after Thomas' death, his character was parodied by Eddie Murphy on Saturday Night Live in a sketch that had Buckwheat as the target of an assassination. His assassin, "John David Stutts" (also played by Murphy), was in turn later assassinated in a scene that parallels Lee Harvey Oswald's murder by Jack Ruby. It was meant to be a parody on the extensive and overindulgent media coverage of the recent John Lennon assassination and the attempt on Ronald Reagan's life. The real Buckwheat's son, William Thomas, Jr., strongly protested Murphy's sketch. Murphy performed later Buckwheat parody skits as well, including a murder attempt by Alfalfa and an advertisement for a record, Buh-Weet Sings

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