<Tr> <Th> Years active </Th> <Td> 1900--1943 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Spouse (s) </Th> <Td> Lena Chase (m. 1907--1922; divorced) Fannie S. Clay (m. 1922--1943; divorced) Elaine Plaines (m. 1944--1949; his death) </Td> </Tr> <P> Bill "Bojangles" Robinson (May 25, 1878--November 25, 1949) was an American tap dancer and actor, the best known and most highly paid African - American entertainer in the first half of the twentieth century . His long career mirrored changes in American entertainment tastes and technology . He started in the age of minstrel shows and moved to vaudeville, Broadway, the recording industry, Hollywood, radio, and television . According to dance critic Marshall Stearns, "Robinson's contribution to tap dance is exact and specific . He brought it up on its toes, dancing upright and swinging", giving tap a "...hitherto - unknown lightness and presence ." His signature routine was the stair dance, in which Robinson would tap up and down a set of stairs in a rhythmically complex sequence of steps, a routine that he unsuccessfully attempted to patent . Robinson is also credited with having introduced a new word, copacetic, into popular culture, via his repeated use of it in vaudeville and radio appearances . </P> <P> A popular figure in both the black and white entertainment worlds of his era, he is best known today for his dancing with Shirley Temple in a series of films during the 1930s, and for starring in the musical Stormy Weather (1943), loosely based on Robinson's own life, and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry . Robinson used his popularity to challenge and overcome numerous racial barriers, including becoming the following: </P>

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