Cleavon Little

Blazing Saddles (1974)

In this satirical take on Westerns, crafty railroad worker Bart (Cleavon Little) becomes the first black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the people of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new leader. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend (Gene Wilder) are the only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.

Fletch Lives (1989)

Irwin “Fletch” Fletcher (Chevy Chase) is one of the best investigative reporters in the country, and he’ll need all his skills when he becomes the main suspect in a murder case. After inheriting a Louisiana plantation from a distant relative, Fletch makes the journey from Los Angeles to check it out. When he winds up in bed with a lawyer — who in turn winds up dead the next morning — Fletch has to solve the crime before he ends up behind bars for someone else’s misdeed.