“Sanford and Son” star Grady Demond Wilson has died at the age of 79.
The actor, best known for playing Lamont Sanford, the son of Fred Sanford, in the smash-hit 1970s sitcom, died at his Palm Springs home on Friday following complications related to cancer.
Wilson’s son, Demond, confirmed the news to TMZ, saying: “I loved him. He was a great man.”
He is survived by his wife Cicely Johnson and their six children.
Wilson was the last surviving cast member from “Sanford and Son,” which aired on NBC.
The show, which ran for six seasons from 1972 to 1977, followed Fred G. Sanford (Redd Foxx), a junk dealer, and his son, Lamont (Wilson), who ran “Sanford and Son Salvage” in Los Angeles.
Foxx died in 1991 at age 68 after suffering a heart attack on the set of his CBS sitcom “The Royal Family.”
“Sanford and Son” also starred Whitman Mayo, who died in 2001 at age 70, Don Bexley, who passed in 1997 at 87 and LaWanda Page, who died in 2002 at 81.
Most recently, Nathaniel Taylor passed away at age 80 in 2019 and Lynn Hamilton died at age 95 in 2025.
Wilson, who was born in Georgia in 1946, grew up in New York City and studied tap dancing and ballet. He served in the US Army from 1966 until 1968, and was stationed in Vietnam, where he was wounded.
He subsequently returned to New York City and appeared in several Broadway shows before moving out to LA.
His star turn on “Sanford and Son” began a short time later.
After his run on “Sanford and Son,” Wilson went on to star in the sitcom “The New Odd Couple,” which began airing in 1982. However, the show lasted just one season.
He later took a step back from Hollywood and became an ordained minister.
In 2009, Wilson reminisced on “Sanford and Son,” writing in his memoir “Second Banana,”: “Redd and I were making history back in those days. 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.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
