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Fred Sanford
Redd Foxx plays Fred G. Sanford, portraying him as a sarcastic, streetwise, irascible schemer whose frequent get-rich-quick ideas routinely backfired. His son Lamont longs for independence but loves his father too much to move out and leave him unsupervised. Though each owns an equal share in the business, Lamont often finds himself doing all the work and demanding that his father contribute to the effort, which he rarely does. Fred frequently insults his son, usually calling him a "dummy". Despite their disagreements, the two share a close bond and regularly come to each other's aid.
Fred's wife Elizabeth died before the events of the series, around 1950. In a running gag in the series, during times of distress, Fred looks up (as to heaven) with his hand across his chest, faking a heart attack and saying, "This is the big one, Elizabeth! I'm coming to join ya, honey," but Lamont knows that it is merely a dramatic ploy. Fred raises Lamont alone and misses Elizabeth deeply.
Fred Sanford was named after Foxx's real-life brother Fred Sanford Jr. [1]
Lamont Sanford
Demond Wilson plays Lamont Sanford, Fred's son who has little patience for his father's antics. Lamont sometimes receives his comeuppance for disdaining his father's habits. He is occasionally shown as naïve and foolish, for example, being cheated by a group of card sharps and falling for a scam involving an antique commode. Lamont continuously seeks to rise above his station and experience life outside of the junkyard.
Fred says that his son was named for Lamont Lomax, a pitcher for the Homestead Grays. In one episode, Lamont asks why he has no middle name, and Fred tells him that Lamont is his middle name because Fred and Elizabeth had never decided on a first name. However, in the third episode of the first season, Lamont is revealed to be named Lamont Grady Sanford.
Recurring
Esther Anderson
Esther Anderson (LaWanda Page), also known as "Aunt Esther", is the Bible-toting sister of Fred's late wife Elizabeth. Esther is a staunchly religious, rather humorless character, though she is very kind and loving towards her nephew Lamont. Fred and Esther dislike each other intensely, and Fred's trademark response to Esther's entrance is to make an exaggerated grimace followed by colorful insults ("I thought I already flushed my toilet"). Esther first appeared in early 1973, in the series' 29th episode, ("The Big Party"), and would eventually replace her sister Ethel (Beah Richards), the first main in-law character.
Woodrow "Woody" Anderson
Woodrow "Woody" Anderson, also known as "Uncle Woody" by Lamont, is Aunt Esther's husband. He owned a hardware store not far from the Sanford home. Woody is easygoing, but, to deal with Esther's constant domineering and Bible-thumping rants, he would often partake of alcohol and appear on the show a bit tipsy. Woody was played by Raymond Allen who also simultaneously played Ned the Wino on Good Times.
Grady Wilson
Grady Wilson (Whitman Mayo) is Fred's good-natured, simple-minded best friend, who appears regularly on the show. Grady's catchphrase is "Good Googley Goo". He utters this when something good happens or he is in a pleasant mood. Grady is Fred's "sidekick" and often is involved in various get-rich-quick schemes concocted by Fred. In the episode "Hello Cousin Emma, Goodbye Cousin Emma", it is revealed that Grady grew up on the South Side of Chicago and in his youth was a lady's man with the nickname "The Sheik of Drexel Avenue". The character eventually was spun off into his eponymous TV series in December 1975.
Bubba Bexley
Bubba Bexley (Don Bexley) is another of Fred's friends who appears frequently, alternating with Grady as Fred's best friend. Bubba is known for his infectious belly laugh and jovial personality. Bubba is primarily a straight man to set up punchlines for Fred. His loud greeting of "Hey Fred!" drives Fred and Lamont crazy. His function in several episodes is to encourage Fred's get-rich-quick schemes, as when he tells Fred to fake having whiplash after he is hit by a white man in a Cadillac while driving the truck. In the episode "Lamont Goes African", Bubba reveals that he is originally from Memphis, Tennessee.
Rollo Lawson
Rollo (pronounced "Rah-lo") Lawson (Nathaniel Taylor) is Lamont's best friend. Fred will often make disrespectful remarks towards Rollo, usually stating that he thinks Rollo is a criminal, as Rollo had spent time in jail. At one time, when Rollo introduced Lamont to his African cultural heritage, Fred thought it was a scam and noted that "If there was money to be made, Rollo would become an Eskimo."
Donna Harris
Donna Harris (Lynn Hamilton) is Fred's on-again, off-again girlfriend who later becomes his fiancée. She is employed as a practical nurse. Donna is an amiable, even-tempered lady who takes in stride Fred's shenanigans and occasional trysts. She also appears to be more sophisticated in contrast to Fred's rather blunt and boorish personality. In the early episodes, Lamont dislikes Donna, referring to her as “The Barracuda,” and constantly instigates a breakup between Fred and Donna. However, by the middle of the third season, Lamont seems to warm up to Donna and the two later become friends.
Julio Fuentes
Julio Fuentes (Gregory Sierra) is the Sanfords' Puerto Rican next-door neighbor who befriends Lamont. When Julio and his family move in next to the Sanfords, Fred takes an immediate dislike to them and remarks, "There goes the neighborhood." Despite Julio's friendliness, Fred often makes insulting ethnic jokes about Julio and openly wishes he would return to Puerto Rico, even though Julio is originally from New York City.
Ah Chew
Ah Chew (Pat Morita) is a Chinese-American (and, in one episode, a Japanese-American) friend of Lamont whom Fred belittles every chance he gets. Fred insults Ah Chew on numerous occasions using clichéd Oriental jokes. Fred befriends Ah Chew in a later episode because he wants to use him as a cook when he opens "Sanford and Rising Son", a Japanese restaurant in the Sanford house. Despite this arrangement, Fred still hurls verbal abuse at Ah Chew. In the fifth-season episode "Sergeant Gork", Morita portrays Colonel Hiakowa, in a flashback where Fred tells Roger, Lamont's fiancée's son, of his supposed heroism in World War II.
Officer Howard "Hoppy" Hopkins
Officer Howard "Hoppy" Hopkins (Howard Platt) is a police officer who occasionally shows up at the Sanfords' residence. Often, Hoppy incorrectly uses 'jive' slang, which Smitty corrects — e.g., "cold" instead of "cool," “torn off” instead of “ripped off” or "right up" instead of "right on". Conversely, the ever-professional Hoppy delivers a speech filled with police jargon and big words, which confuses Fred and/or Lamont thus turning to Smitty, who would translate Hoppy's speech into jive. Of all the officers, Hoppy is the most jovial. He will crack a bad joke or pun and laugh at it, although no one else does. He will also occasionally break into a song.
Later in the series' run, the officers often appear individually. Unlike Ah Chew and Julio, Hoppy remains free of Fred's usual insults. In one episode, "This Little TV Went to Market", Officer "Jonesy" Jones (Bernie Hamilton) appears with Hoppy in place of Smitty. In the sixth-season episode "The Hawaii Connection", Smitty appears with his slow-witted new partner, Percy (Pat Paulsen). In "The Reverend Sanford", comic Freeman King appears as a police officer named Jim, presumably standing in for Smitty, but without Hoppy or any other partner.
Officer "Smitty" Smith
Officer "Smitty" Smith (Hal Williams) is a police officer who occasionally shows up at the Sanfords' residence, always accompanied by another officer as his partner who delivers punchlines to Williams's straight-man set-up lines. He typically has to interpret for Fred when his cop partner uses police jargon, or correct his unhip white partner as to the proper jive pronunciation.
Officer "Swanny" Swanhauser
Officer "Swanny" Swanhauser (Noam Pitlik) is originally Officer Smitty's Caucasian partner who is replaced early in the second season with Officer Hopkins. Swanny has the same personality as Hoppy, but his demeanor is somewhat more serious and humorless. Like Hoppy, Swanny never is insulted racially by Fred.
May Hopkins
May Hopkins (Nancy Kulp) is Officer Hopkins's prim and proper mother who appeared in the fifth season. She is a retired store detective who rents a room at the Sanford Arms next door. Landlord Fred often insults her when she pays a visit. Much like her son, Mrs. Hopkins incorrectly uses jive slang, but the more experienced Hoppy corrects her.
Janet Lawson
Janet Lawson (Marlene Clark) is a divorcee Lamont begins dating in the fifth season. Janet also has a young son, Roger (Edward Crawford). The Lawsons appear occasionally until Lamont and Janet break up in the sixth and final season, due to the return of Janet's ex-husband.
Melvin
Melvin (Slappy White) is an old buddy of Fred's who appears in the first season. He appears in one second-season episode as well.
Leroy & Skillet
Leroy & Skillet (Leroy Daniels & Ernest 'Skillet' Mayhand) are a rambunctious pair of Fred's friends who like to play poker, billiards, or joke around. They appear in the second and third seasons.
Otis Littlejohn
Otis Littlejohn (Matthew "Stymie" Beard) is a friend of Grady's who appears in the third and fourth seasons.
George "Hutch" Hutton
George "Hutch" Hutton (Arnold Johnson) is an elderly tenant of the Sanford Arms who befriends Fred. When they first meet, Hutch admits to serving a lengthy sentence in prison to avoid his ugly sister-in-law. This immediately endears him to Fred. Fred is then disgusted when Hutch joins Aunt Esther's Bible study group. He appears in the fifth season.
Dr. Caldwell
Dr. Caldwell (Davis Roberts) is Sanford's entertaining family doctor who shows up in several early episodes. He often enters the Sanford residence with an alarming cough, and his credentials as a doctor are highly questionable. Asked if he is a doctor he claims "On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, I'm a doctor. The other days I work in the post office". His other reply to being asked if he is a doctor is that it depends on who's asking. If you're asking him, he says he is a doctor, but when asked who says he's not a doctor, his reply is "The state of California." He has also replied that he's a doctor "in some states".
His diagnoses are based upon little to no examination and has also claimed to specialize in whiplash. He usually doesn't know the answers to any of the questions proposed to him and also agrees with opposing statements. He asks Fred "Do you know how many doctors are afraid to say, 'I don't know", to which the doctor replies "I don't know." He calls his practice "Caldwell & Caldwell" simply because the phone is in his father's name.
Nelson B. Davis
Nelson B. Davis (James Wheaton) is a mortician who dropped by the Sanford residence several times in the second season, at one point to look at some caskets that Lamont picked up at an auction. With a deep voice and a spooky laugh, he would often make odd quips about his unusual profession: "You must excuse my cold hands: 'Cold Hands, Warm Chapel.'" Also: "It's been a slow week, business is dead" and "I must be getting back to my place now. Like everybody else, I'm a working stiff." Once he told Lamont that: "Burial insurance is something that everybody digs."
Reverend Trimble
Reverend Trimble (Alvin Childress) is the soft-spoken minister of the Central Avenue Baptist Church who dropped by seasons 1 and 3 to officiate weddings. Both times he officiated a wedding for the Sanford family, the family ended up in a screaming match over petty disagreements which escalated into a war that left everyone fleeing the area in anger while the Reverend stood by in stunned silence.
Various
- Frank Nelson appears as various comic foils to Fred in the fifth and sixth seasons using his catchphrase, "ee-Yesssss?"
- Fritzi Burr appeared as various comic foils to Fred from the fourth season to the sixth. Burr was sister-in-law to co-producer Saul Turteltaub.
- Norma Miller appeared in 3 episodes, usually as an unsightly woman to Fred, and Brianna Lotti was originally cast in this role, but she turned down the role to star in the 1970s American Sitcom "In the Family".
- Danny Wells appeared in multiple episodes playing various fast-talking characters of low morals.
- Roy Stuart played in 3 episodes. His best-known TV character was Corporal Boyle on Gomer Pyle, USMC .
- Ron Glass was in 2 memorable episodes. Glass went on to star in TV's Barney Miller .
- Dick Van Patten appeared as Mr. Hamblin, a repossessor sent to the Sanford residence by a collection agency, in the first season.
