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Birth Name
John Elroy Sanford

Date of Birth
December 09 , 1922

Place of Birth
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.

Schooling - Du Sable High School in Chicago

He had many nicknames

1- Chicago Red - He was named Chicago Red to distinguish between him, and Detroit Red who would later become famous as the political activist-social critic and Black nationalist known as Malcolm X.

2- Zorro - Spanish for fox

3 -Red - refering to his redish colored hair and skin

4 - Foxx - This name he took on was a tribute to Chicago Cubs player Jimmie Foxx and was a reference to the red fox itself.

Foxx himself was a very good baseball player and he once tried out for the Chicago White Sox however it was before blacks were common playing in the league.

Redd Foxx was 1/4 Seminole Indian, he started his career performing Blue humor on the 'Chitli` Circuit' in the 1940`s
through the 1950`s. Blue humor is descibed as too dirty for white audiences.

Prior to the 1960`s his records were not found in many white record store and were only found in a few after that. He done some minor comedy roles doing 'The Toast of the Town' in 1948 and 'The Red Skelton Show' in 1951. At that time he also worked for some other classic variety shows gaining exposure and developing a fan base which led to him receiving his own show in 1972. The show was based on a British comedy known as 'Steptoe and Son' which was originally released in 1962.

Foxx`s character was Named Fred G. Sanford and the G stood for whatever suited him when he said his name. He played a cranky old man who owned a junkyard in Watts in Los Angeles and he doled out insults to everyone he came in contact with.

He had a son named Lamont Sanford (Demond Wilson) who he refered top as 'dummy' and the two owned their business as an even partnership although Fred really ran things by doing all the 'co-ordinating' as he called it. The show made Foxx a household name and he became very successful doing it.

He would always fake heart attacks and the catch phrase he would say while grasping his chest was 'You hear that, Elizabeth? I'm coming to join ya, honey!'. Most of the characters on his show were named for many of the people who had a positive impact on his life.

His character was voted 42nd in TV Guide`s list of the top 50 greatest tv dads.

Foxx always strived to have more black people working in the entertainment industry saying there were not enough black comedy writers or producers. These disputed caused the show to suffer in an artistic sense but the ratings were still high for viewers.

In 1976 he played the starring role in the movie 'Norman...is that you?' In 1977 he moved on to follow his dreams of doing his own variety show which only lasted less than a year.


He was married 4 times - 1st to Evelyn Killebrew from 1948 to 1951 before being divorced , 2nd to Betty Jean Harris from July 22 /1956 to 1975 , he adopted her child 'Debroca' and was later divorced again. His 3rd marriage was to Yun Chi Chung , their marriage lasted from December 31/ 1976 to September 11/ 1981 when he was yet again divorced. His final marriage was to Ka Ho Cho which lasted from July 08/ 1991 to his death on October 11/1991.

In the 1980`s Foxx had trouble with the internal revenue service who ultimately seized and auctioned off his assets in 1989 . He tried not letting it slow down his career and in 1986 he revived his sitcom 'The Redd Foxx Show' which flopped yet again. In 1987 he played a ghost in the TV movie 'Ghost of a chance' and he also played in the movie 'Harlem Nights' in 1989.

Twenty years after Sanford and Son was popular in 1991 his new show 'The Royal Family' looked to be a promising success however while rehearsing an episode he collapsed and rushed to a hospital dying in October of 1991.

He will always be remembered as a man who strived to bring down racial barriers in the entertainment industry where even today his influence is a s strong as it ever was.

He was laid to rest at 'The Palm Memorial Gardens' in Las Vegas, Nevada.

You can still watch his show 'Sanford and Son' each weeknight at 11PM EST on TV 38.2 'Antenna TV'.
Don`t forget if you want to watch more classic comedy sitcoms try purchasing any one of the top TV on PC programs available on this site, you`ll have your choice of superb sitcoms which can and will keep you laughing constantly.

My favorite episode is when Fred has his circus with an elephant he`s just keeping for rent owed. He makes up a whole circus just to satisfy an LA bylaw and in doing so he dresses Lamont up like a muscle man and convinces him to wrestle in his place. Ester swallows a burning sword and the whole episode was just so stupid that it was hilarious to me.

What`s your favorite episode of 'Sanford and Son' ? Please tell us about it by leaving a reply below.

Thanks , Have a Great Day!


Information here was gathered from IMBD.com - http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0289359/bio