‘Sanford and Son’ star Mayo dies

Friday, May 25, 2001 | 11:02 a.m.

When Whitman Mayo would walk on stage at the old Hacienda Hotel and "surprise" Redd Foxx during his show, no one was more proud of the familiar character actor than the Strip resort's security sergeant Nichelle De La Hoya.

"To me he was just my Uncle Whitman but to everyone else in the audience, they would gasp, 'oh my goodness, it's Grady! It's Grady!' " De La Hoya said, recalling the several guest appearances Mayo made while visiting her in Las Vegas during the 1980s.

Years earlier, Mayo became a 1970s icon portraying the absent-minded but good-natured Grady Wilson on the hit television sitcom "Sanford and Son." Although the Grady character was in his 70s, Mayo at the time was just in his 50s and wore spots of gray makeup in his trademark scraggly beard.

"Uncle Whitman played old but he was always young at heart," De La Hoya said.

Mayo died Tuesday at age 70 of a stroke in Atlanta, where he resided for five years after being a longtime California resident. Services are scheduled for Saturday in Atlanta.

"Uncle Whitman came to Las Vegas quite often in the 1970s and '80s and spent a lot of time here with Redd Foxx and Della Reese," De La Hoya said. Foxx died in October 1991.

In their appearances at the Hacienda, Mayo would sneak up on Foxx from backstage and the two would engage in ad-libbed schtick, recalling their days on "Sanford and Son."

Mayo got his big break when Foxx got involved in a highly publicized contract dispute with NBC and walked off "Sanford & Son." Mayo's character took over as a father-figure for -- and foil to -- Demond Wilson's character Lamont, the son of cantankerous junk dealer Fred Sanford who was portrayed by Foxx.

When Foxx returned to the show, Grady remained a regular supporting character. Mayo's spinoff show, "Grady," was aired briefly by NBC in 1975.

So endearing was the Grady character to the American public that, in the 1990s, David Letterman for his then-NBC late night TV show, held a "Where's Grady?" contest. Mayo made an appearance on Letterman's show that Friday.

Mayo spent seven years as a counselor for delinquent boys and ran a Los Angeles travel agency before pursuing his acting career.

He is survived by his wife, the former Gail Etheridge of Atlanta and two sons. The Associated Press

contributed to this report.