Demond Wilson, who played Redd Foxx’s long-suffering son Lamont on Sanford and Son, died on Jan. 30. He was 79. Wilson started his career as a child actor onstage, and served in the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam. He was a rising young actor (Mission: Impossible, All in the Family, The Organization) when cast in Sanford and Son. The big, handsome Wilson, with his impressive ‘70s pornstache, played straight man to such comic greats as Foxx (who called him “Dummy,” at least onstage) and Lawanda Page. After the show ended in 1977, his career petered out (he played Oscar to Ron Glass’s Felix in The New Odd Couple, 1982-83). In later years, he went off the deep end with religion, becoming a minister in the Church of God in Christ and acting as an evangelist (“I'm a Holy Ghost-filled, fire-baptizing man”). Wilson said of Sanford and Son, “It was about the love of a parent to a child which transcends time, race, and gender. It could have been a mother and a daughter. It reveals the undying love of a parent to a child in a comedic way. Our personalities and the brilliant comedic talent of Redd Foxx, who put the character of Fred Sanford on like a tailored-made suit.”
