Demond Wilson, 1946-2026
The Sanford and Son actor is gone at 79.
Entertainment Weekly, “Demond Wilson, Sanford and Son star, dies at 79“
Demond Wilson, the actor best known for portraying Lamont Sanford on the iconic sitcom Sanford and Son, has died.
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Born in Grady Demond Wilson in Valdosta, Ga., in 1946, the actor moved to New York City in his youth and studied tap dancing and ballet. He served in the 4th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1968.
After working in several theatrical productions in New York upon his return to the States, Wilson made his screen debut in an uncredited role in the 1970 film Cotton Comes to Harlem, which starred Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx. His TV debut came in a 1971 episode of All in the Family, in which he played one half of a burglar duo alongside Cleavon Little.
Wilson played small roles in the 1971 Sidney Poitier film The Organization and the 1972 Michael Crichton adaptation Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues. He also appeared in an episode of Mission: Impossible and an ep of Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In in the early 1970s.
The actor’s breakout role came in 1972 with Sanford and Son. The sitcom cast Wilson as Lamont, the straight man and son to Foxx’s irascible Fred G. Sanford, who constantly clashed with him for maximal comedic effect on screen. The show ran for six seasons from 1972 to 1977 on NBC. Sanford maintained immense popularity despite airing on Friday nights, and is considered one of the most influential sitcoms of the 1970s.
Following Sanford‘s cancellation in 1977, Wilson headlined the short-lived CBS sitcom Baby… I’m Back, which lasted just one season in 1978. He appeared on multiple episodes of The Love Boat and an ep of Today’s FBI before landing his next lead role, playing Oscar Madison on The New Odd Couple. That series, which also starred Ron Glass, aired for just one season on ABC from 1982 to 1983.
Wilson almost died from a ruptured appendix when he was 12, and vowed to dedicate his life to Christian ministry in the midst of that early health crisis. He followed through on his commitment in the 1980s when he stepped back from entertainment to become an ordained minister in the Church of God in Christ. He helped found Restoration House of America, an organization committed to rehabilitating former prison inmates, in 1995.
The actor later wrote the book The New Age Millennium: An Exposé of Symbols, Slogans and Hidden Agendas in 1998, as well as a number of children’s books. His released his autobiography, Second Banana: The Bitter Sweet Memoirs of the Sanford and Son Years, in 2009.
Wilson occasionally acted later in his career, appearing in the 1993 Danny Aiello dramedy Me and the Kid and the 2000 Pat Morita comedy Hammerlock. He also guest-starred on four episodes of UPN’s Girlfriends, appearing as the biological father of Lynn Ann Searcy (Persia White).
The New York Times, “Demond Wilson, Long-Suffering Son on ‘Sanford and Son,’ Dies at 79“
Demond Wilson, the actor who starred as Lamont, a young man in constant comic battle with his junk-dealer father on “Sanford and Son,” the popular 1970s comedy series, died on Friday at his home in the Coachella Valley area of California. He was 79.
The death was confirmed by his son Christopher Wilson, who said his father had contracted prostate cancer.
“Sanford and Son,” when it had its premiere on NBC in January 1972, was a star vehicle for Redd Foxx, the king of bawdy comedy record albums, making his debut as a network television lead in prime time. But the show had two lead roles: the cantankerous California junk dealer (Mr. Foxx) and his long-suffering, hotheaded 30-ish son, Lamont, the older man’s business partner, who was sick and tired of being repeatedly dismissed as “you big dummy.”
Lamont’s basic role was to be a comic straight man to his father. Mr. Wilson breezed through scenes with lines like “You’ll have to excuse my father,” “Are you sure about that, Pop?” and “Hey, Pop! I’m home.” But plots often revolved around the son’s emotions, ambitions and actions. And in Season 4, when an injured tap-dancing houseguest needed a last-minute substitute, Lamont stepped in. He put on a tuxedo, took to a nightclub stage and showed off his impressive dancing talents.
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In July 1972, Ebony magazine published a glowing feature article, “Sanford and Son: Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson Wake Up TV’s Jaded Audience.” The article noted, “It did not take long into the first show to find out” how Mr. Wilson, the lesser known of the two stars, would do. “He is excellent.”
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The two men had visible on-camera chemistry, but their personal relationship suffered when Mr. Foxx temporarily left the show in 1974 in a contract dispute. “Sanford and Son” ended its run in the spring of 1977, with the father and son characters still going at each other tooth and nail.
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Mr. Wilson often talked about his disillusionment with show business. “We’ve left the rat race and false people behind,” he told The Los Angeles Times in 1986, being interviewed in and near a church where he was giving the sermon that night.
“It wasn’t challenging,” he said of the films and television series he did. “And it was emotionally exhausting because I had to make it appear that I was excited about what I was doing.”
Ultimately, he was dismissive of the decade or so he had devoted to acting. “Hollywood doesn’t mean anything to me,” he said in a 2023 podcast interview. “I went to a factory.”
“For me, that’s what it was — a business,” he said. “I didn’t belong there.”
Los Angeles Times, “Actor Demond Wilson of ‘Sanford and Son’ fame dies at 79“
Demond Wilson, who was best known for playing Lamont Sanford, the son of Redd Foxx’s character on the 1970s TV show “Sanford and Son,” died in his sleep at his home in the Coachella Valley on Jan. 30. He was 79.
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Despite his success, Wilson left acting, sold his Bel-Air mansion and Rolls-Royce and became an interdenominational preacher in 1983.
The change was not surprising given his background. “I was raised a Catholic, was an altar boy, and at 14 I seriously considered becoming a priest,” Wilson told The Times in 1986. When he was 12, his appendix ruptured and he nearly died, leading him to promise to serve God as an adult. “I was always aware that God was the guiding force in my life,” he said.
Disillusioned with Hollywood, Wilson moved his wife and children to what he jokingly called a “respectable, Republican, upper-middle-class” neighborhood in Mission Viejo. He wanted his five children at the time to have “normal childhoods.” “We’ve left the rat race and false people behind,” he said.
It’s a shame that he was so disillusioned with his time in Hollywood, given how much joy he brought to millions with Sanford and Son. He was a Vietnam veteran and was wounded in combat, earning a Purple Heart. Various social media say he also received the Bronze Star, but I can find no credible confirmation. He later revealed that he suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder and that it took him until 1994 to come to terms with it.
My parents and I watched Sanford and Son faithfully throughout its run. The racial humor is somewhat cringey half a century later, but it was cutting-edge at the time. The short-lived Sanford revival, which does not feature Wilson, was certainly poorer for his absence.
