{"id":442282,"date":"2026-02-01T06:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T06:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/442282\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T06:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T06:04:10","slug":"iconic-1970s-actor-vietnam-vet-dead-at-79-he-was-a-great-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/442282\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic 1970s actor, Vietnam vet, dead at 79: \u2018He was a great man\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Grady Demond Wilson\u2019s work still stands up.<\/p>\n

Playing the role he was best known for \u2014 Lamont Sanford, the son of Fred Sanford on the hit show \u201cSanford and Son\u201d \u2014 he brought laughs into the living rooms of millions for decades.<\/p>\n

Wilson, 79, died Friday morning at his home in Palm Springs, California. Wilson\u2019s son, Demond Wilson Jr., told TMZ that his father died from complications related to cancer. <\/p>\n

\u201cI loved him,\u201d Wilson Jr. told TMZ. <\/a>\u201cHe was a great man.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson played Lamont Sanford on the show from 1972 through 1977. The beloved show\u2019s re-runs continue to air today.<\/p>\n

Wilson has a long list of acting credits with the last coming in 2023 for the TV series \u201cEleanor\u2019s Bench.\u201d <\/p>\n

Wilson took a long break from acting prior to that appearance, with his last credit before 2023 coming in 2004 and 2005 on the series \u201cGirlfriends.\u201d<\/p>\n

he also starred in 18 episodes of \u201cThe New Odd Couple\u201d in 1982 and 1983, and starred in the 1993 film, \u2018Me and the Kid.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other credits include \u201cFull Moon High,\u201d \u201cToday\u2019s F.B.I.,\u201d and \u201cThe Love Boat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson was a native of Valdosta, Georgia, and prior to his acting career he enlisted in the United States Army where he served from 1966 through 1968. Wilson was a member of the 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam and was wounded. He returned home and began working on Broadway and off-Broadway stage productions. He has several acting credits in television and film along the way before landing his role on \u201cSanford and Son.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Grady Demond Wilson\u2019s work still stands up. Playing the role he was best known for \u2014 Lamont Sanford,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":442283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[236,88,208236],"class_list":["post-442282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-image-type-sons-fathers-family-film-still-photograph-picture-att"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=442282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/442282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/442283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=442282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=442282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=442282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}