Willie Mae Taylor

Biography

Willie Mae Taylor (October 3, 1932 – September 1, 1987) was an American child actress. She is best remembered for originating the character "Buckwheat" in Hal Roach's Our Gang (The Little Rascals) comedy shorts, appearing in 1934's Honky Donkey and The First Round-Up. In these early appearances, the Buckwheat character was portrayed as a young girl—the sister of Matthew "Stymie" Beard—and later evolved into the character "Marmalade" before Billie Thomas officially assumed the role of Buckwheat as a boy. Taylor and Thomas shared the screen in two 1934 shorts: Washee Ironee and The First Round-Up. Outside of these minor roles in the Our Gang series, Taylor did not appear in any other film productions.