Jan. 31, 2026
We Love You, "You Big Dummy!"; "Sanford and Son" Star Dead at 79
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RSS Feed You may not know the name Grady Lamond Wilson, but you sure know his face, and his iconic role in the 1970’s hit “Sanford and Son.” Wilson, the actor best known for playing son Lamont to Red Foxx’s Fred Sanford, has passed away from cancer at the age of 79. Amy and T.J. talk about Wilson’s iconic role in a show that shaped so many of our lives, the opening soundtrack a familiar tune to just about all of us. Wilson had an iconic life, filled not just with his love of acting and entertaining, but with his dedication to service of his country and his God.
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00:00:11
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, it is Saturday, January thirty first, and the son in Sanford and Son has passed away. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ and Robes. Everybody to this day you know it, you just you know that Jingle and Robes. A lot of people might not be able to come up with his name immediately, his real name, but you know his character's name.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: Yes, you love Sanford and Son. You know Lamont Lamont Sanford. He was the son of Red Fox, a famed actor. But yeah, just pulling up his picture from back in the day, from the iconic show, you're like, oh, man, yes, he was at.
00:01:00
Speaker 3: In every household. It was the number one show on television.
00:01:04
Speaker 1: I don't know his face any other way, like I didn't. I don't remember seeing him age. He is stuck forever. Now we've seen some recent pictures now since the word of his passing, but that he is stuck in our brains as that guy with the thick mustache, with the afro and the same look on his face and the So we have lost now a guy who was, who was and continues to be a part of television history with this show. Grady Demand Wilson has passed away at the age of seventy nine. Passed away, confirmed by his son. Died of cancer. He didn't say what type of cancer it was, but passed away in California yesterday, Robes and everybody is stopping and taking a moment and thinking back. But these episodes of the show, it essentially never stopped airing. It's been in syndication and streaming in a bunch of places. It's always been on TV.
00:01:58
Speaker 2: We forget about that, right, you know, because as even our kids can watch these reruns and they are as familiar sometimes with these faces in these.
00:02:07
Speaker 3: Shows as we were. But yes, that music just the sign of the time. It takes you right back.
00:02:13
Speaker 2: There are certain actors that can take you immediately back to your childhood, where you were, what you were doing, how you were feeling when you think about that time in your life. This show aired interestingly from nineteen seventy two to nineteen seventy seven, so it ended the year you were born. And yet it's such And obviously I was too young while it was airing live to be aware of it.
00:02:37
Speaker 3: I was four, But still you.
00:02:40
Speaker 2: And I grew up with that show in syndication and reruns.
00:02:43
Speaker 1: I don't even understand how. I had no idea that this show ended the year I was born. It was a current new hit. As far as I knew growing up, it was a fart. It was one of those shows. I know it. I see it. I know where the stairs are. They go in there to the kitchen with the swing. The bar was right there at the couch, and I know the setup in the I don't know why I know this show that well, but it is just a part of history, and he is a part of that that rolls in a lot of ways. Didn't know a lot about him, didn't know a lot about his career, didn't know a lot about what he did after the show. But man, you have to take a moment when something and it's such a part of your life, you do you feel like a part of your youth you just lost. Yeah, because he was a part. It's a weird thing to feel.
00:03:31
Speaker 2: This sounds strange, but the way was on in syndication in my life.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: When I was in grade school.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: I remember when I heard Sanford and Son come on right after Mash, I knew I had to go upstairs and do my homework. It was like a signal, Like when I heard that song come on, I was like, oh, it's almost dinner time. I think it must have aired around five pm in Saint Louis, Missouri when I was in my formative years, because I just remember that song and the show being on and hearing the laugh track and the background, like it's just such an iconic part of all of our history of a certain age. And he he was a bright light, you know Red Fox's character, Sandford's groff. He was just this positive, youthful energy that that was.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: You know, it was no see what you're saying.
00:04:21
Speaker 3: He was.
00:04:22
Speaker 1: He was kind of the moral compass or balance, even to Red Fox's character, who was always up to some I always wanted to get money, but Lamont always he was always struggling, wanting to leave, wanting to get away, but he felt like there was responsibility to his dad and to the business. And you know, even the door what was the neighbor's name, the one who got on their nerves all the time that Red Fox couldn't stand. Can't remember your case right now. It was just that show was really really special, and he had to look up and robes. If I'd have seen his picture, his updated picture it would have. He's unrecognizable to me based on what I know of this man.
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Yes, and that's why when I saw the picture, I was I think I know who that is. And I obviously saw Sanford and Son. Scroll down a little bit. You see the picture from the nineteen seventy He's like, oh, yes, of course, yes, but he does look a little different. And he still acted throughout his career, but nothing as iconic, of course as that show.
00:05:18
Speaker 3: That was a show for six seasons like no other.
00:05:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we will get into a little more about his background. Things we did not know, did not realize until this morning, or until at least we heard word of his passing. I didn't really this show was such a powerhouse. It stayed in the top ten for the five seasons it was on. They actually ended up having some contract disputes. They didn't take it off because all it's not doing we wow. But it was two years and I think it was in the top two, but a short run of incredible success for seventy two to seventy seven.
00:05:50
Speaker 3: I didn't know it was that old, even.
00:05:53
Speaker 2: I you know what, I didn't either, because I thought I was seeing those episodes air in real time, not in reruns.
00:06:01
Speaker 3: I don't.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: I didn't, I say with them. There are some shows like that, The Brady Bunch.
00:06:05
Speaker 3: Same.
00:06:05
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how much earlier it actually debuted because I was watching reruns and wasn't realizing it.
00:06:11
Speaker 3: As a kid that I wasn't seeing it in its first run. And that's the same with Samford and I.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: Got so many questions now, I don't know. Did I ever see a new episode of Good Times? I don't know, Like all these shows that I watched now, I didn't realize this rope that again doing a dive here on him, that where Sanford and Son came from, and how he got to be a part of it. He did an episode of All in the Family, obviously a huge hit. I think he played like a robber or something. Yes, it made such an impression. He gets this gig.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: I didn't know that either. I you know, it was funny. You and I were talking and I said, did you know this? Did He was like, yeah, I read the same article you did. I learned it today. But it is cool when it does take unfortunately someone passing, but you start to realize you just know them as this character. You just they're just in this this place in history, maybe in your life, in your timeline, but then you start to actually read about them and find out how they got to where they are. And this guy has a very very interesting and very cool and admirable resume leading up to this. And to be discovered on one of the most iconic shows at the time, and to get your own spin off at that time for a black man, impressive as hell.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: No, these two put together and Amy, I think it was I'm not sure if you said in an interview or it was a book they had written that Sanford and Son, at least for him and Red Fox, they thought it'd be just a quick stopover, like let's pocket this cash, it'll give us this PLATFORMOD and we'll be out of here.
00:07:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it became a hit.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: It became a hit, and again on top for the five seasons. Didn't get canceled for low ratings. But I think it was Red Fox that had the contract dispute and then they had to write him out and thought he might come back, and then it just didn't happen, and then the both of them ended up with other little sitcoms or spinoffs of some kind. They didn't last long and didn't have anywhere close to the success they had on Sanford and Son.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: I didn't.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: We talked about a lot of shows that are iconic, we could start reeling off. I can't remember that many that we would say are iconic that had this short of a run.
00:08:10
Speaker 2: You know, that's a good point because now we see things go on to you know, whatever season. But this was only thirteen episodes per season too, so it's not like you're getting this daily dose. This was old school the way they used to run shows, and you'd get a thirteen episode season, sixth season at the top of their game.
00:08:31
Speaker 3: You don't we look we in the amount.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: When you talk about being a number one show back then, there isn't even a comparison to today because everything's so fractured. You have so many opportunities, so many outlets to go find a show. There were three major channels producing content entertainment, and so if you were a number one show or a number two show, you're talking about numbers like shows today couldn't.
00:08:55
Speaker 1: Even dream of astronomical. We talk about like NFL numbers. Yes, Sunday type. It's unreal what they were able to put off. But it's like a show like like off the top of your head of Friends, or a or a Seinfeld or a Jefferson's or a hell even a Game of Thrones like all I even though Game of Thrones had seven or eight seasons, I write didn't, wasn't it in the teens or double digits of Seinfeld?
00:09:20
Speaker 4: Oh?
00:09:21
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:09:21
Speaker 1: The seasons that Saint was the same for.
00:09:23
Speaker 3: I couldn't tell you what the number is.
00:09:25
Speaker 1: But we think iconic shows have long runs, don't they? Five seasons seems quick to be iconic for me at forty eight to be standing here talking about a show that was special to me that only was on a short.
00:09:37
Speaker 3: Relatively show.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: But maybe if you have the six seasons, but they lived on in the way that they did in reruns, it's almost like it never went away. And so in that sense, it was that good. It might not have had as many episodes, but it's lived on.
00:09:54
Speaker 3: You know what's funny.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: When I was reading about the show, because I was trying to just do some research just to refresh my memory, and I apt out loud when I saw I remember this Red Fox's catchphrase to its.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: Dummy, you big Plaine, ordinary dummy.
00:10:11
Speaker 4: I just I could see Red Fox saying it, his character is saying it to him, and I was like, oh my god, I totally remember that. But it's funny you forget it and then you read it like it just brings back so many memories.
00:10:23
Speaker 1: Did he do it every episode?
00:10:24
Speaker 3: Red Fox?
00:10:26
Speaker 1: Another one Elizabeth? Every episode? Did he not say, Elizabeth, I'm coming to join you. Thank he's having a heart attack. That is to this day, you can see him standing in the living room doing that. Well, folks, stay here, we're telling you about how much we learned about Lamont today. Well we're going to pass along some of the coolest things about him that have absolutely nothing to do with acting. It's about service to God and service to his country.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: Stay here, all right.
00:11:07
Speaker 1: We continue here now on Amy and TJ on this last day of January. Just getting word yesterday that one of the most iconic actors on one of the most iconic shows that television has or will ever see, Grady demand Wilson, who played Lamon Sandford on Sanford and Son, has passed away at the age of seventy nine. His son said it was related to his battle with cancer. We don't know type of cancer, but dead at the age of seventy nine and rogue. We didn't know a whole lot about him, but in finding out about his background, he was a guy who didn't just catch some Yeah, he got a break, but this acting is something he loved, had a passion for, and.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Studied, yes, in fact, as an early as a child. Correct, he was on stage at five dancing. So he was somebody who absolutely fell in love with the stage and performance and it showed at an early age. But he was born in Valdosta, Georgia, raised in Harlem, So like that's a big that's.
00:12:02
Speaker 3: A big shift in culture.
00:12:03
Speaker 1: At least he got it out of the way earlier, right, he was still too young to understand.
00:12:09
Speaker 2: And then he was drafted into the army, which this is what I was really impressed to see. He was wounded in Vietnam and he was awarded a purple heart. That is not something that most people can can say that they've accomplished in their life.
00:12:23
Speaker 3: So that was remarkable.
00:12:24
Speaker 2: And I had no idea of his service and of his bravery or of his injury.
00:12:28
Speaker 1: Well and known about him. I mean, I don't know if I ever knew that fact at some point, but it came into a surprise to me that somebody that you know, you think you know such a part and so familiar to you, there's so little that you know about them now. He did have some troubles, and he admitted in the eighties had went through had a cocaine problem, but had he describes a moment where he just was enlightened and sold his possessions, decided to become a pastor and to start ministering, and he said that has that was really the love and the passion that he had in his life. And that was in the mid eight eighty five. I think when he was still his name, his face were still out there, and he was still active. There was one movie he did he had a major role, the name of it off the top of my head right now. But he continued to act and he was still out there. Nothing like we said Robes that reached that same success, but he stayed active, not just in front of a camera, but.
00:13:18
Speaker 3: In his community.
00:13:19
Speaker 2: I think that's pretty cool that he considered his life a life of service, starting with what he gave for his country, but then his service to God and becoming an ordained minister. While yes, he continued to act in factize. You know, I'm sure I was obsessed as a kid with a love boat. So he actually had a recurring guest He was a guest actor or a character on the love Boat in I think the nineteen seventy nine.
00:13:46
Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty one he was in some.
00:13:49
Speaker 2: Crime dramas, the werewolf movie comedy full Moon High is at the movie you were thinking of.
00:13:54
Speaker 3: He was in that one.
00:13:55
Speaker 2: And then he starred as Oscar Madison in The New Odd Couple. That was a big one. Yes, that was the ABC sitcom, The New Odd Couple. So he played Oscar. Ron Glass played Felix. That was Gary Marshall's sitcom. So that was a big that. That was a big deal. It only ran for one season though, so that was the problem. I remember it being touted as a as a remake basically of the original Odd Couple.
00:14:20
Speaker 3: But yeah, he had he had a full life.
00:14:23
Speaker 2: His son had sweet things to say about how much he loved his father.
00:14:26
Speaker 3: That's always really nice to hear.
00:14:27
Speaker 2: Yes, you can have the accomplishments, you can have what you achieved in your life, but to have your family by your side, to have your family there saying how much they loved you, that is what matters. And it's funny, by the way, I looked up what the uh the Sanford and sunphrase that Red Fox used to.
00:14:42
Speaker 3: Say, it's the big one.
00:14:44
Speaker 2: I'm coming to you, Elizabeth, And while clutching his chest his.
00:14:48
Speaker 1: Chest, the other arm out and he's he's waddling a little bit like he's unsteady on his feet.
00:14:52
Speaker 3: You can see him doing it.
00:14:53
Speaker 1: It's just, you know what, thank you to him and his family for I mean, I know they know he had fans in our reach, but here we are standing here at this age, still upset and having fond memories over losing somebody that we didn't know and don't even know why he is this important to us, but he has played such an important role in our lives and it's good to take a moment just say thank you. So folks who appreciate you. Always thought it was important to hop on. If you hadn't heard it, wanted to certainly let you know. But wherever you may be today, we certainly hope you have a good win and hug whoever's near you that you love, Hug him tight, tell him you love him. And as always we appreciate you spending some time with us, some TJ. Holmes you have
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks, it is Saturday, January thirty first, and the son in Sanford and Son has passed away. And with that, welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ and Robes. Everybody to this day you know it, you just you know that Jingle and Robes. A lot of people might not be able to come up with his name immediately, his real name, but you know his character's name.
00:00:40
Speaker 2: Yes, you love Sanford and Son. You know Lamont Lamont Sanford. He was the son of Red Fox, a famed actor. But yeah, just pulling up his picture from back in the day, from the iconic show, you're like, oh, man, yes, he was at.
00:01:00
Speaker 3: In every household. It was the number one show on television.
00:01:04
Speaker 1: I don't know his face any other way, like I didn't. I don't remember seeing him age. He is stuck forever. Now we've seen some recent pictures now since the word of his passing, but that he is stuck in our brains as that guy with the thick mustache, with the afro and the same look on his face and the So we have lost now a guy who was, who was and continues to be a part of television history with this show. Grady Demand Wilson has passed away at the age of seventy nine. Passed away, confirmed by his son. Died of cancer. He didn't say what type of cancer it was, but passed away in California yesterday, Robes and everybody is stopping and taking a moment and thinking back. But these episodes of the show, it essentially never stopped airing. It's been in syndication and streaming in a bunch of places. It's always been on TV.
00:01:58
Speaker 2: We forget about that, right, you know, because as even our kids can watch these reruns and they are as familiar sometimes with these faces in these.
00:02:07
Speaker 3: Shows as we were. But yes, that music just the sign of the time. It takes you right back.
00:02:13
Speaker 2: There are certain actors that can take you immediately back to your childhood, where you were, what you were doing, how you were feeling when you think about that time in your life. This show aired interestingly from nineteen seventy two to nineteen seventy seven, so it ended the year you were born. And yet it's such And obviously I was too young while it was airing live to be aware of it.
00:02:37
Speaker 3: I was four, But still you.
00:02:40
Speaker 2: And I grew up with that show in syndication and reruns.
00:02:43
Speaker 1: I don't even understand how. I had no idea that this show ended the year I was born. It was a current new hit. As far as I knew growing up, it was a fart. It was one of those shows. I know it. I see it. I know where the stairs are. They go in there to the kitchen with the swing. The bar was right there at the couch, and I know the setup in the I don't know why I know this show that well, but it is just a part of history, and he is a part of that that rolls in a lot of ways. Didn't know a lot about him, didn't know a lot about his career, didn't know a lot about what he did after the show. But man, you have to take a moment when something and it's such a part of your life, you do you feel like a part of your youth you just lost. Yeah, because he was a part. It's a weird thing to feel.
00:03:31
Speaker 2: This sounds strange, but the way was on in syndication in my life.
00:03:37
Speaker 3: When I was in grade school.
00:03:38
Speaker 2: I remember when I heard Sanford and Son come on right after Mash, I knew I had to go upstairs and do my homework. It was like a signal, Like when I heard that song come on, I was like, oh, it's almost dinner time. I think it must have aired around five pm in Saint Louis, Missouri when I was in my formative years, because I just remember that song and the show being on and hearing the laugh track and the background, like it's just such an iconic part of all of our history of a certain age. And he he was a bright light, you know Red Fox's character, Sandford's groff. He was just this positive, youthful energy that that was.
00:04:18
Speaker 1: You know, it was no see what you're saying.
00:04:21
Speaker 3: He was.
00:04:22
Speaker 1: He was kind of the moral compass or balance, even to Red Fox's character, who was always up to some I always wanted to get money, but Lamont always he was always struggling, wanting to leave, wanting to get away, but he felt like there was responsibility to his dad and to the business. And you know, even the door what was the neighbor's name, the one who got on their nerves all the time that Red Fox couldn't stand. Can't remember your case right now. It was just that show was really really special, and he had to look up and robes. If I'd have seen his picture, his updated picture it would have. He's unrecognizable to me based on what I know of this man.
00:04:57
Speaker 2: Yes, and that's why when I saw the picture, I was I think I know who that is. And I obviously saw Sanford and Son. Scroll down a little bit. You see the picture from the nineteen seventy He's like, oh, yes, of course, yes, but he does look a little different. And he still acted throughout his career, but nothing as iconic, of course as that show.
00:05:18
Speaker 3: That was a show for six seasons like no other.
00:05:22
Speaker 1: Yeah, and we will get into a little more about his background. Things we did not know, did not realize until this morning, or until at least we heard word of his passing. I didn't really this show was such a powerhouse. It stayed in the top ten for the five seasons it was on. They actually ended up having some contract disputes. They didn't take it off because all it's not doing we wow. But it was two years and I think it was in the top two, but a short run of incredible success for seventy two to seventy seven.
00:05:50
Speaker 3: I didn't know it was that old, even.
00:05:53
Speaker 2: I you know what, I didn't either, because I thought I was seeing those episodes air in real time, not in reruns.
00:06:01
Speaker 3: I don't.
00:06:01
Speaker 2: I didn't, I say with them. There are some shows like that, The Brady Bunch.
00:06:05
Speaker 3: Same.
00:06:05
Speaker 2: I didn't realize how much earlier it actually debuted because I was watching reruns and wasn't realizing it.
00:06:11
Speaker 3: As a kid that I wasn't seeing it in its first run. And that's the same with Samford and I.
00:06:15
Speaker 1: Got so many questions now, I don't know. Did I ever see a new episode of Good Times? I don't know, Like all these shows that I watched now, I didn't realize this rope that again doing a dive here on him, that where Sanford and Son came from, and how he got to be a part of it. He did an episode of All in the Family, obviously a huge hit. I think he played like a robber or something. Yes, it made such an impression. He gets this gig.
00:06:39
Speaker 2: I didn't know that either. I you know, it was funny. You and I were talking and I said, did you know this? Did He was like, yeah, I read the same article you did. I learned it today. But it is cool when it does take unfortunately someone passing, but you start to realize you just know them as this character. You just they're just in this this place in history, maybe in your life, in your timeline, but then you start to actually read about them and find out how they got to where they are. And this guy has a very very interesting and very cool and admirable resume leading up to this. And to be discovered on one of the most iconic shows at the time, and to get your own spin off at that time for a black man, impressive as hell.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: No, these two put together and Amy, I think it was I'm not sure if you said in an interview or it was a book they had written that Sanford and Son, at least for him and Red Fox, they thought it'd be just a quick stopover, like let's pocket this cash, it'll give us this PLATFORMOD and we'll be out of here.
00:07:35
Speaker 3: Yeah, And it became a hit.
00:07:37
Speaker 1: It became a hit, and again on top for the five seasons. Didn't get canceled for low ratings. But I think it was Red Fox that had the contract dispute and then they had to write him out and thought he might come back, and then it just didn't happen, and then the both of them ended up with other little sitcoms or spinoffs of some kind. They didn't last long and didn't have anywhere close to the success they had on Sanford and Son.
00:07:59
Speaker 3: I didn't.
00:08:01
Speaker 1: We talked about a lot of shows that are iconic, we could start reeling off. I can't remember that many that we would say are iconic that had this short of a run.
00:08:10
Speaker 2: You know, that's a good point because now we see things go on to you know, whatever season. But this was only thirteen episodes per season too, so it's not like you're getting this daily dose. This was old school the way they used to run shows, and you'd get a thirteen episode season, sixth season at the top of their game.
00:08:31
Speaker 3: You don't we look we in the amount.
00:08:33
Speaker 2: When you talk about being a number one show back then, there isn't even a comparison to today because everything's so fractured. You have so many opportunities, so many outlets to go find a show. There were three major channels producing content entertainment, and so if you were a number one show or a number two show, you're talking about numbers like shows today couldn't.
00:08:55
Speaker 1: Even dream of astronomical. We talk about like NFL numbers. Yes, Sunday type. It's unreal what they were able to put off. But it's like a show like like off the top of your head of Friends, or a or a Seinfeld or a Jefferson's or a hell even a Game of Thrones like all I even though Game of Thrones had seven or eight seasons, I write didn't, wasn't it in the teens or double digits of Seinfeld?
00:09:20
Speaker 4: Oh?
00:09:21
Speaker 2: Yeah?
00:09:21
Speaker 1: The seasons that Saint was the same for.
00:09:23
Speaker 3: I couldn't tell you what the number is.
00:09:25
Speaker 1: But we think iconic shows have long runs, don't they? Five seasons seems quick to be iconic for me at forty eight to be standing here talking about a show that was special to me that only was on a short.
00:09:37
Speaker 3: Relatively show.
00:09:38
Speaker 2: But maybe if you have the six seasons, but they lived on in the way that they did in reruns, it's almost like it never went away. And so in that sense, it was that good. It might not have had as many episodes, but it's lived on.
00:09:54
Speaker 3: You know what's funny.
00:09:54
Speaker 2: When I was reading about the show, because I was trying to just do some research just to refresh my memory, and I apt out loud when I saw I remember this Red Fox's catchphrase to its.
00:10:08
Speaker 3: Dummy, you big Plaine, ordinary dummy.
00:10:11
Speaker 4: I just I could see Red Fox saying it, his character is saying it to him, and I was like, oh my god, I totally remember that. But it's funny you forget it and then you read it like it just brings back so many memories.
00:10:23
Speaker 1: Did he do it every episode?
00:10:24
Speaker 3: Red Fox?
00:10:26
Speaker 1: Another one Elizabeth? Every episode? Did he not say, Elizabeth, I'm coming to join you. Thank he's having a heart attack. That is to this day, you can see him standing in the living room doing that. Well, folks, stay here, we're telling you about how much we learned about Lamont today. Well we're going to pass along some of the coolest things about him that have absolutely nothing to do with acting. It's about service to God and service to his country.
00:10:56
Speaker 3: Stay here, all right.
00:11:07
Speaker 1: We continue here now on Amy and TJ on this last day of January. Just getting word yesterday that one of the most iconic actors on one of the most iconic shows that television has or will ever see, Grady demand Wilson, who played Lamon Sandford on Sanford and Son, has passed away at the age of seventy nine. His son said it was related to his battle with cancer. We don't know type of cancer, but dead at the age of seventy nine and rogue. We didn't know a whole lot about him, but in finding out about his background, he was a guy who didn't just catch some Yeah, he got a break, but this acting is something he loved, had a passion for, and.
00:11:42
Speaker 2: Studied, yes, in fact, as an early as a child. Correct, he was on stage at five dancing. So he was somebody who absolutely fell in love with the stage and performance and it showed at an early age. But he was born in Valdosta, Georgia, raised in Harlem, So like that's a big that's.
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Speaker 3: A big shift in culture.
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Speaker 1: At least he got it out of the way earlier, right, he was still too young to understand.
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Speaker 2: And then he was drafted into the army, which this is what I was really impressed to see. He was wounded in Vietnam and he was awarded a purple heart. That is not something that most people can can say that they've accomplished in their life.
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Speaker 3: So that was remarkable.
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Speaker 2: And I had no idea of his service and of his bravery or of his injury.
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Speaker 1: Well and known about him. I mean, I don't know if I ever knew that fact at some point, but it came into a surprise to me that somebody that you know, you think you know such a part and so familiar to you, there's so little that you know about them now. He did have some troubles, and he admitted in the eighties had went through had a cocaine problem, but had he describes a moment where he just was enlightened and sold his possessions, decided to become a pastor and to start ministering, and he said that has that was really the love and the passion that he had in his life. And that was in the mid eight eighty five. I think when he was still his name, his face were still out there, and he was still active. There was one movie he did he had a major role, the name of it off the top of my head right now. But he continued to act and he was still out there. Nothing like we said Robes that reached that same success, but he stayed active, not just in front of a camera, but.
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Speaker 3: In his community.
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Speaker 2: I think that's pretty cool that he considered his life a life of service, starting with what he gave for his country, but then his service to God and becoming an ordained minister. While yes, he continued to act in factize. You know, I'm sure I was obsessed as a kid with a love boat. So he actually had a recurring guest He was a guest actor or a character on the love Boat in I think the nineteen seventy nine.
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Speaker 3: In nineteen eighty one he was in some.
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Speaker 2: Crime dramas, the werewolf movie comedy full Moon High is at the movie you were thinking of.
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Speaker 3: He was in that one.
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Speaker 2: And then he starred as Oscar Madison in The New Odd Couple. That was a big one. Yes, that was the ABC sitcom, The New Odd Couple. So he played Oscar. Ron Glass played Felix. That was Gary Marshall's sitcom. So that was a big that. That was a big deal. It only ran for one season though, so that was the problem. I remember it being touted as a as a remake basically of the original Odd Couple.
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Speaker 3: But yeah, he had he had a full life.
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Speaker 2: His son had sweet things to say about how much he loved his father.
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Speaker 3: That's always really nice to hear.
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Speaker 2: Yes, you can have the accomplishments, you can have what you achieved in your life, but to have your family by your side, to have your family there saying how much they loved you, that is what matters. And it's funny, by the way, I looked up what the uh the Sanford and sunphrase that Red Fox used to.
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Speaker 3: Say, it's the big one.
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Speaker 2: I'm coming to you, Elizabeth, And while clutching his chest his.
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Speaker 1: Chest, the other arm out and he's he's waddling a little bit like he's unsteady on his feet.
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Speaker 3: You can see him doing it.
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Speaker 1: It's just, you know what, thank you to him and his family for I mean, I know they know he had fans in our reach, but here we are standing here at this age, still upset and having fond memories over losing somebody that we didn't know and don't even know why he is this important to us, but he has played such an important role in our lives and it's good to take a moment just say thank you. So folks who appreciate you. Always thought it was important to hop on. If you hadn't heard it, wanted to certainly let you know. But wherever you may be today, we certainly hope you have a good win and hug whoever's near you that you love, Hug him tight, tell him you love him. And as always we appreciate you spending some time with us, some TJ. Holmes you have