Hal Williams, 1934 – 2026

Movie and TV actor Hal Williams (Sanford and Son, Private Benjamin) died on July 15. He was 91. Williams had worked as a postal worker and corrections officer before taking up acting full-time in the late 1960s; he eventually appeared in more than 70 movies and and TV shows, most recently the current reboot of Matlock. His best known roles were as friendly neighborhood cop Smitty on Sanford and Son, shouty drill sergeant (is there any other kind?) Ross in the movie and TV versions of Private Benjamin, as dad Lester Jenkins in 227, and as Ruby Bryan on The Sinbad Show. Williams was also kept busy in such vehicles as That Girl, Herbie Rides Again, Gunsmoke, Kung Fu, Police Story, Good Times, The Waltons, Knots Landing, The Jeffersons, Hill Street Blues, Moesha, Night Court, and Parks and Recreation. Williams once said that “I’ve been a straight man for a long time. It doesn’t bother me, because all I ever aspired to be was a working actor. I’ve been very lucky. Most of the shows I’ve been in have been hits.”