Dooley Wilson, born 1894 in Texas, was a drummer but became famous as a piano player dispite the fact that he could not play the piano.
In the movie Casablanca, he starred as Sam, the piano player at Rick's cafe. His piano was a dummy that could not be played, with Elliot Carpenter playing the song live off-camera. The piano used in the "Paris" scenes was real, and sold for vast amounts of money when auctioned in the 1980s. The song he was famous for playing, As Time Goes By, played on Your Hit Parade for 21 straight weeks in 1943, but because of the songwriters strike being held, it was a re-issue of Rudy Vallee's 1931 featuring the seldom sung first verse of the song that was played.
Dooley Wilson went on to make some small roles during the 1940s and to play Bill Jackson in the 1950s show "Beulah" from 1952 until he died in 1953.