Demond Wilson Movies

Sanford and Son launched its sixth and final season with an unforgettable location-filmed jaunt to Hawaii. Heading to the land of pineapples and hula skirts for a junkman's convention, Fred and Lamont Sanford (Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson) get innocently mixed up with jewel thieves. The crooks plant their loot on Fred in hopes of smuggling the gems to L.A. -- but of course, their best-laid schemes go hilariously agley. Highlighting Part One of "The Hawaiian Connection" is Fred Sanford's impromptu hula lesson. (This episode, originally running a full hour, has since been edited into two half-hour segments for syndication.) ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

While cultivating their backyard garden, Fred and Lamont Sanford (Redd Foxx, Demond Wilson) apparently strike oil. Their unexpected windfall attracts the attention of an Arabian oil expert named Aram (Ross Martin). Naturally anticipating a huge financial bonanza, Fred begins spending money even before he gets it -- and then doesn't get it. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

To impress his son Lamont's future mother-in-law, Fred (Redd Foxx) tries to get into the Guinness Book of World Records. His plan is to stay awake longer than the current record-holder, the immortal Choo Choo Rabinowitz. As it turns out, it is Fred's crony Bubba (Don Bexley) who makes it into the Guinness annals by breaking a bizarre record all his own. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Unable to pay his back rent, a tenant of the Sanford Arms leaves his sole possession as collateral. Unfortunately for Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx), that possession turns out to be an elephant. Hoping for a quick turnover, Fred stages a spectacular advertising gimmick, with the pesky pachyderm as the main attraction -- and before long our hero is facing a lawsuit. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lamont (Demond Wilson) thinks Fred (Redd Foxx) is watching too much TV. Fred disagrees, sparking a violent quarrel. Hoping to end his dad's TV addiction once and for all, Lamont arranges for Fred to be hypnotized: From now on, whenever he has the urge to be a couch potato, Fred will imagine that his TV set is overheating. Originally scheduled to air on January 16, 1976, this episode was bumped forward to January 30. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ever seeking out new sources of income, Fred (Redd Foxx) applies for work at an escort service, only to be bluntly informed that he is "too homely" for such work. Hoping to prove that he is still catnip to women, Fred opens up his own escort business, with his equally unlovely pals as his stable of "studs." As always, Fred finds that what seems easy in theory is next to impossible in reality. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Fred (Redd Foxx) expresses indifference when his son Lamont (Demond Wilson) gets involved with a local acting workshop. But Fred quickly changes his tune when he learns that one of the workshop actors is boxing champion George Foreman (as himself). This explains why Fred shows up at the theater, preparing to make his directorial debut (Orson Welles has nothing to worry about). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Beginning its fifth successful season on Friday, September 12, 1975, Sanford and Son was essentially the mixture as before with most of the familiar regulars firmly in place. His well-publicized contract disputes more or less receding into memory, Redd Foxx was back as cantankerous Watts junk dealer Fred Sanford, with Demond Wilson as his long-suffering son and reluctant business partner Lamont. Also returning were LaWanda Page as Fred's explosively prudish sister-in-law Aunt Esther, Lynn Hamilton as Fred's sometimes fiancée Donna Harris, Don Bexley and Nathaniel Taylor as family friends Bubba and Rollo, and Hal Williams and Howard Platt as police officers Smitty and Hoppy. Conspicuously absent from the fifth-season roster were three actors who had departed for other sitcoms: Gregory Sierra (Julio Fuentes), who had moved to Barney Miller; Pat Morita (Ah Chew), who had transferred to Happy Days; and, most notably, Whitman Mayo (Grady Wilson), now starring in his own spin-off series, Grady. However, despite his new leading-man workload, Mayo would continue to make token Sanford appearances as Grady, returning to the series on a more or less regular basis after Grady (the series) folded in the spring of 1976. Additions and emendations to the Sanford format included the arrival of Marlene Clark as Janet Lawson, a widowed mother with whom Lamont would fall in love, and Edward Crawford as Janet's young son Roger. Also, Fred and Lamont Sanford would try to amplify their income by managing a boarding house, the Sanford Arms, which introduced as steady stream of recurring characters -- and also set the stage for the ultimate conclusion of Sanford and Son at the end of 1977. That denouement was still part of the distant future by the conclusion of the series' sixth season, during which Sanford ranked as America's seventh most popular weekly series. Fans were particularly gratified that NBC chose to rerun selected episodes on Wednesday evenings from April to August 1976, under the title The Best of Sanford and Son. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton) is tired of being the erstwhile fiancée of Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx). When Fred again balks at the thought of matrimony, Donna issues an ultimatum: Either Fred marries her immediately, or she'll accept the proposal of another man. Can it be that Fred's hesitancy is due to reverence for his late wife Elizabeth, or is he merely suffering from that common malady known as "cold feet"? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Forced to play host to his unemployed white brother-in-law Rodney Victor (Allan Drake), Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) is fed up with Rodney's obnoxious practical jokes. Finally deciding that if you can't beat 'em, join 'em, Fred suggests that he and Rodney work up a nightclub routine. The ultimate strategy is to get Rodney to work and out of the house, but things don't quite turn out that way. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Can it be? Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx), a man constitutionally unwilling to perform any form of physical exertion, is about to compete in the Senior Olympics? Yes, it's true -- and it is all because Fred doesn't want to lose his erstwhile fiancée Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton) to venerable but virile athlete Lou Turner (Percy Rodrigues). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this opening episode of Sanford and Son's fifth season, a team of Russian scientists announce that a seismic fault runs smack in the middle of the Sanfords' house. A series of small earthquakes subsequently sets Fred Sanford (Redd Foxx) a-tremble in more ways than one. Certain he will meet his doom in the inevitable "Big One," Fred packs his bags and heads off to Las Vegas -- where, of course, he runs smack-dab into an aggregation of celebrities. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lamont (Demond Wilson) mistakenly believes that the doctor has given Fred (Redd Foxx) a few months to live (actually Fred has been given a few months to pay his bill). To make the old man happy in his "last moments," Lamont and Rollo (Nathaniel Taylor) try to arrange a date between Fred and singer Lena Horne. Originally intended as the opening episode of Sanford and Son's fifth season, "The Over-the-Hill Gag" was instead shown at the end of season four. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide