'Sanford and Son' star Nathaniel Taylor dead at 80

FoxNews.com ^ | Mar 3, 2019 | AP, via FoxNews.com

[ETL]

Nathaniel Taylor, the actor best known as Rollo Lawson, the street-smart best friend of the son on the 1970s sitcom "Sanford and Son," has died.

Taylor died Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles after a heart attack, his son Kaedi Taylor told The Associated Press Saturday. The elder Taylor was 80.

Taylor's character, Rollo, was the sidekick to Lamont Sanford, played by actor Demond Wilson, and often drew the skepticism of TV patriarch Fred Sanford, who thought Rollo was a bad influence on Lamont because he'd spent time in jail.

The fast-talking but good-hearted Rollo dressed in colorful suits and hats and called Fred — played by actor and comedian Redd Foxx — "Pops."

Taylor went on to act in other shows and movies, later opening a performing arts studio for young actors. But his son said Taylor never tired of people recognizing him as Rollo.

"It was a time and an era — just to be on TV as a black man, it was an honor," said Kaedi Taylor, who works in the television and film industry behind the scenes.

"It was an honor for people to remember him."

[ETL]

[Cecily]

Fred did not like Rollo, Aunt Esther and her church ladies, or Julio (and Julio’s hungry goat).

RIP, Mr. Taylor.

[ETL]

Fred supposedly calls Rollo the N-word in this outtake, breaking the others up.

[Magnum44]

Sanford and son would be racist stereotyping today...

[ETL]

Can't believe he was 80!

[fieldmarshaldj]

He was a handsome dude when he was on “Sanford.” RIP.

[ClearCase_guy]

I liked Black culture in the 70s. It was distinct and proud and generally not nasty. They wanted to do their thing and they let me do my thing.

Today, the activists want to tear down whatever I have, and I’m an evil racist if I don’t thank them for their destruction.

[dennisw]

Sanford and Son........too racist to make today
The Jefferson. ........too racist to make today
Kojak ........too racist to make today

[ETL]

Here is one of my top favorite episodes...

Sanford and Son | S02E17 | Lamont Goes African (25 min)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAYdAR81VHA

[CAluvdubya]

Can't believe he was 80!

Me either! It just can't have been that long ago?!

OTOH, we know that the jokes that made S&S so funny would have everyone in an uproar today. So sad that the Dems/Libs want to nail the Conservatives so badly that they've killed all humor with their fake outrage. I don't for a minute think they really are all the upset about "words".

[Dr. Sivana]

He was a better actor than Demond Wilson was, that's for sure.

"It was a time and an era — just to be on TV as a black man, it was an honor," said Kaedi Taylor, who works in the television and film industry behind the scenes.

There were a LOT of shows that had black people as the main characters then. Some of them were actually pretty funny/or good. Besides Sanford and Son, there was The Jeffersons, Benson, Different Strokes, What's Happenin'!, Good Times, That's My Mamma, and major players in shows like Welcome Back, Kotter (Boom-Boom), Grady, Mod Squad (Linc) and going a bit farther back I-Spy (Cosby) and Julia (the lovely Dihann Carroll). That's just off the top of my head. No need for boycotts or threats, just make a normal storyline where black people are a natural part of the story.

And with the exception of the undercurrent in Good Times, none of these shows really questioned the basic decency of America or Americans, ewven when there was racial humor (the clueless white cop in Sanford and Son).

I rewatched the first episode of I-Spy with my children, and Bill Cosby (I know, I know ...) was personally affronted by a black Olympic athlete who made a high profile defection to Red China for money. Cosby's character was offended by the betrayal, and acted on core patriotic, freedom loving principles. Bad a man as he is, Cosby was actually a VERY good actor, even in TV drama.

The Dihann Carroll character (a nurse) turned down a promotion and raise to work in another hospital when she realized that she was to be an affirmative action hire with no real expectation or responsibility. (Michelle Obama, anyone?)

[fieldmarshaldj]

Before that rap horror, the Black culture was turning out great music right up until the early/mid ‘80s. Don Cornelius wouldn’t have that degrading filth on his show (”Soul Train”).

[ETL]

Sanford and Son........too racist to make today

He insulted every group, including fellow blacks.

[ETL]

Still shots from the episode I linked to above...

Sanford and Son | S02E17 | Lamont Goes African

[OKSooner]

Yes, one doesn't even need to click the link to recall Fred's punch line at the end, as he's cooking a nice skillet full of sausage:

"You don't have to be a fanatic!"

Another good one was so un-PC it would never pass muster today, and it had my little clique of 11-th graders laughing about it for months, it seemed... "I bet I know who Duane is!!"

...But I digress. RIP sir.

[ETL]

He was a better actor than Demond Wilson was, that's for sure.

I don't think so. Lamont was great in that role.

[LRoggy]

I happened to love Good Times and will forever admire Esther Rolle for standing up to Norman Lear when he tried to force the storyline on her about James leaving the family to cover the contract issue John Amos had with Lear.

[ETL]

"I bet I know who Duane is"

Fred: "I bet I know who Duane is"

[SkyDancer]

Barney Miller retro with that gang of different detectives.

[the OlLine Rebel]

Another great show.