{"id":15171,"date":"2026-01-31T16:43:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T16:43:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/sanford-and-son-star-was-79\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T16:43:51","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T16:43:51","slug":"sanford-and-son-star-was-79","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/sanford-and-son-star-was-79\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;Sanford and Son&#8217; Star Was 79"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div class=\"pmc-paywall\">\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tGrady Demond Wilson, the actor known for portraying Lamont Sanford on <em>Sanford and Son<\/em>, has died. He was 79.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tThe actor\u2019s son Demond Wilson Jr. told TMZ that he died on Friday at his Palm Springs home from complications with cancer. Demond Jr. did not disclose what type of cancer his father had.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\t\u201cI loved him. He was a great man,\u201d Demond Jr. told the outlet.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tBorn Oct. 13, 1946 in Valdosta, Georgia, Wilson grew up in New York City, making his Broadway debut as a child, before joining the US Army and serving in Vietnam, where he was wounded. Upon his return to the states, Wilson appeared in some Broadway and off-Broadway shows before moving to Hollywood.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tFollowing his appearance in a 1971 episode of CBS\u2019s <em>All in the Family<\/em>, Wilson won the titular role of Lamont Sanford in <em>Sanford and Son<\/em>, opposite Redd Foxx\u2019s patriarch Fred G. Sanford. The beloved sitcom, adapted by Norman Lear from the British series <em>Steptoe and Son<\/em>, ran for six seasons on NBC from 1972 to \u201977.<\/p>\n<div class=\"post-content-image \/\/  \">\n<figure class=\"o-figure   size-large alignnone lrv-u-max-width-100p\" style=\"width:100%; max-width:1024px;\">\n<div class=\"c-lazy-image  \">\n<div class=\"lrv-a-crop-16x9\" style=\"padding-bottom:calc((1009\/1024)*100%);\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"c-lazy-image__img lrv-u-background-color-grey-lightest lrv-u-width-100p lrv-u-display-block lrv-u-height-auto\" src=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/themes\/pmc-deadline-2019\/assets\/public\/lazyload-fallback.jpg\" data-lazy-src=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?w=300\" alt=\"\" data-lazy-srcset=\"https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg 3000w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=150,148 150w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=300,296 300w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=1024,1009 1024w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=1536,1513 1536w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=2048,2017 2048w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=102,100 102w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=93,93 93w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=62,62 62w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=100,100 100w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=60,60 60w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=352,347 352w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=110,108 110w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=285,281 285w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=244,240 244w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=320,315 320w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=487,480 487w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=640,630 640w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=609,600 609w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=800,788 800w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=780,768 780w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=1040,1024 1040w, https:\/\/deadline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-138420752.jpg?resize=1280,1261 1280w\" data-lazy-sizes=\"(min-width: 87.5rem) 1000px, (min-width: 78.75rem) 681px, (min-width: 48rem) 450px, (max-width: 48rem) 250px\" height=\"1009\" width=\"1024\" decoding=\"async\"\/><\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div><figcaption class=\"c-figcaption  lrv-u-font-size-12 lrv-u-padding-tb-025\">\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\" lrv-u-font-size-16 lrv-u-font-size-14@mobile-max lrv-a-font-body-m u-font-style-italic lrv-u-font-weight-bold lrv-u-font-family-primary u-line-height-20 u-letter-spacing-0 u-line-height-18@mobile-max\">Redd Foxx as Fred G. Sanford and Demond Wilson as Lamont Sanford in \u2018Sanford and Son\u2019 (NBCU Photo Bank\/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tWilson then went on to star as Raymond Ellis in the short-lived 1978 CBS sitcom <em>Baby\u2026 I\u2019m Back!<\/em>, playing a compulsive gambler trying to win back his family. He also played Oscar Madison in ABC\u2019s <em>The New Odd Couple<\/em> (1982-\u201983).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tHis TV credits also include episodes of <em>Mission: Impossible<\/em>, <em>Love Boat<\/em> and <em>Girlfriends<\/em>, and he appeared in films like <em>Cotton Comes to Harlem<\/em> (1970), <em>The Organization<\/em> (1971), <em>Full Moon High<\/em> (1981) and <em>Hammerlock<\/em> (2000).<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph larva \/\/ lrv-u-margin-lr-auto     \">\n\tWilson, who was also a Christian evangelist and ordained minister, married model Cicely Johnston in 1974, and they shared six children and multiple grandchildren.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Grady Demond Wilson, the actor known for portraying Lamont Sanford on Sanford and Son, has died. He was 79. The actor\u2019s son Demond Wilson Jr. told TMZ that he died on Friday at his Palm Springs home from complications with cancer. Demond Jr. did not disclose what type of cancer his father had. \u201cI loved [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15172,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-523369626.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}