An icon of ’70s television has passed away.
Grady Demond Wilson, best known for playing Lamont Sanford on the classic NBC sitcom “Sanford and Son,” has died, according to TMZ. The actor and author was 79 years old.
Per his son, Demond Wilson Jr., the elder Wilson passed at his Palm Springs, California home on Friday (Jan. 30) due to complications from cancer.
“I loved him,” Wilson Jr. told the outlet about his father. “He was a great man.”
Professionally, Wilsoin went by his middle and last name and starred in the hit NBC comedy alongside Redd Foxx from 1972 to 1977. Over the course of five seasons, the duo became comedy royalty and a precursor to modern father-son sitcom duos.
“Nobody ever called me that,” Wilson said of the name “Grady,” hence why they gave the name to a character who was Fred Sanford’s best friend. “When [my mother] was carrying me to my father, ‘I want this boy, I want him to be a dancer.”
A Vietnam veteran, Wilson initially heard that the network wanted Richard Pryor to play Lamont before the role went to him.
”I said, ‘C’mon, you can’t put a comedian with a comedian. You’ve got to have a straight man.’ Dick Martin was the nut, Dan Rowan was the straight guy” on “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” he said in a 2022 interview celebrating the 50th anniversary of the show.
Wilson’s career somewhat stalled after “Sanford and Son.” He starred in one season of “Baby … I’m Back” from 1977 to 1978, then made guest appearances on shows like “The Love Boat.” He once again starred in a TV series in the 1980s, a revamp of the classic “Odd Couple” from 1982 to 1983. However, another generation of TV viewers may remember him playing Kenneth Miles in four episodes of the comedy “Girlfriends” in 2004 and 2005.
His last known credit was the TV series “Eleanor’s Bench,” which is available on Prime Video.
Over the years, several of Wilson’s fellow “Sanford and Son” cast members have passed away. Raymond Allen, who famously played Ned The Wineo on the series, died in 2020 and Nathaniel Taylor, who played Rollo on the show, died in 2019.
