Grady Desmond Wilson, best known for his role as Lamont Sanford in the 1970s sitcom Sanford and Son, has died. He was 79 years old.
According to Wilson’s son, Demond Wilson Jr., his father died Friday morning in his home in Palm Springs, California. His death was related to complications from an unknown type of cancer.
“I loved him,” the sitcom star’s son told TMZ. “He was a great man.”
Wilson— who was known as Desmond Wilson professionally — began his career at a young age, dancing on Broadway as a child and spending his teenage years acting at Harlem’s Apollo Theater.
His Hollywood career began after serving in the Vietnam War with the U.S Army.
He acted on the NBC sitcom Sanford and Son alongside Redd Foxx from 1972 to 1977 before he starred in the short-lived Baby...I’m Back! sitcom as Raymond Ellis. He was also in one season of The New Odd Couple in the early 1980s.
Wilson previously discussed what it was like to be a Black actor on television during that time period. “Redd and I were making history back in those days,” he wrote in his 2009 autobiography.
“We were the first Blacks to be on television in that capacity and we opened the door for all those other shows that came after us.”
Following his television career, Wilson appeared on the big screen with a starring role in the 1993 comedy movie, Me and the Kid.
He took an extended break from acting after the release of the film, not appearing on screens again until his final role in 2023 in one season of the drama Eleanor’s Bench.
Wilson had been married to former model Cicely Johnston since 1974 and they had six children together. The actor was also devoted to his faith, becoming an ordained minister in the 1980s and setting up the Restoration House of America to help former inmates rehabilitate into society.
Fans of the late actor have started to take to social media to share just how much Wilson and his career meant to them at the time.
“RIP Demond Wilson,” one fan on X began. “My parents were pretty insistent on a 10 p.m. bed time when I was a kid, but they always let me make an exception for Sanford and Son when it came on WPHL at 10. Always worth it.”
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