In “Coming to America,” Louie Anderson, who lost his battle with cancer at age 68, played Maurice, the aspiring assistant manager of McDowell’s who enthusiastically rose through the ranks learning the intricacies of fast food.
“Hey, I started mopping the floor like you guys,” Maurice told Prince Akeem and Semmi played by Eddie Murphy and Arsenio Hall. “But now…now I’m washing lettuce.” Soon I’ll be on fries; then the grill. In a year or two, I’ll be an assistant director, and that’s when the big money will start pouring in.
In reality, Anderson’s life-changing role in the 1988 classic came thanks to his Midwestern values and a lack of melanin in his skin.
“I love Louie, but I think we had to put Louie in there,” Arsenio Hall, 65, told Jimmy Kimmel in 2021 while promoting the sequel. “We were forced to put in a white person.”
Eddie Murphy backed up his sidekick’s account.
“[The studio was] like, ‘There must be a white person in the movie.’ I was like, ‘What?’ So who was the funniest white guy around? We knew Louie was cool, so that’s how Louie got into the movie.
Hall said they were initially given a choice of three Caucasian comedians.
“I had a list. They gave me a list with three white men. They said, ‘Who would you rather work with?’ I said Louis.
But Anderson, who reprized his role in the 2021 sequel, “Coming 2 America,” had stood out to Murphy with an act of kindness.
In a 2017 interview with Sway in the Morning, the Emmy winner recalled dining at Hollywood hotspot The Ivy in the 1980s and seeing Murphy dine with his entourage. Anderson asked the waiter to put the comedian’s “Raw” bill on his credit card.
“Don’t tell him before I leave. I’m not doing this to be a big shot. I do it ’cause I’m from the Midwest and that’s how it would be [it]“recalls the native of Minnesota.
“The next day I got a call from him thanking me, and then his person took over,” said Anderson, who was told, “I’m doing this little movie called Coming To America and I’m going to put a role in it for you.
He said Murphy told him, “Nobody ever bought me anything.”
Anderson never had to audition for the role. “I just got this part…and that was it. It was the best $650 I have ever spent. Isn’t that an amazing and wonderful story? he said.
In that same interview, Anderson recalled giving Murphy unsolicited advice as the couple toured the LA comedy circuit in the 1980s.
“I always said, ‘Eddie, you’re too dirty on stage – be clean. You can be funnier by being clean, you’ll just do twice as much business. And he was just looking at me,” Anderson added.
He must have registered at a certain level. Murphy’s portrayal of the polished Prince Akeem in “Coming to America” was a departure from his raunchy act and grittier roles. And the film became the highest-grossing film that year for the studio and the second-highest-grossing film at the US box office.
And Anderson embraced his role as the only white man in the movie and the sequel, telling a Deadline affiliate, “I’m the token white guy, that’s what Eddie Murphy called me in the first movie. It was great to get together with everyone and it was a great experience.
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