Foxx, Redd (John Elroy Sanford)

Impact on the world

Recorded his first comedy album, 'Laff of the Party,' in 1956, going on to release more than 50 raunchy 'party records' over his career that earned him the title 'King of the Party Records' while remaining too explicit for most white-owned record stores to carry; cast as the lead in 1972's 'Sanford and Son,' an American adaptation of the British sitcom 'Steptoe and Son,' he starred for five seasons as junkyard owner Fred G. Sanford in one of the first network television sitcoms built around a predominantly Black cast, ranking among the top ten programs on American television for most of its run, while also personally launching the careers of fellow comedians Flip Wilson, already profiled in this collection, and Richard Pryor, already profiled in this collection, both of whom credited Foxx directly with giving them their first real opportunities and encouragement.

Life & background

Born John Elroy Sanford in St. Louis in 1922 to an electrician father who abandoned the family when he was three and a mother who worked as a domestic servant, Foxx was raised largely by his mother and grandmother in poverty severe enough that he later recalled rummaging through trash cans for food; he formed a singing group called the Four Bon Bons as a teenager before hopping a freight train to New York at 16 with no money. He began performing on the Black vaudeville and nightclub circuit known as the Chitlin' Circuit through the late 1940s and 1950s, developing the deliberately explicit, sexually frank style of 'blue humor' that made his subsequent party records popular within Black communities even as they remained largely unavailable in white-owned record stores for years; he adopted his stage name combining a nickname from his red hair with a nod to baseball player Jimmy Foxx, then partnered with comedian Slappy White for a touring act before relocating to Los Angeles in the early 1950s, where racial segregation initially barred him from auditioning at mainstream venues entirely. After opening his own Los Angeles nightclub, where regulars including Richard Pryor watched him perform nightly, Foxx famously recommended a then-unknown Flip Wilson for a comedy booking when he himself was unavailable, directly launching Wilson's career, while Pryor later credited Foxx with giving him, in his own words, the inspiration and encouragement to become more authentically himself on stage. His first major film role came in 1970's 'Cotton Comes to Harlem,' leading producers Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin to cast him as the lead in 'Sanford and Son' two years later, a role that made him one of the highest-paid television stars of the era even as the show, named for his own late brother, drew some criticism within the Black community over its depiction of Fred Sanford's character. He walked off the show in 1974 over a pay and ownership dispute before returning the following season, left permanently in 1977 to host a short-lived ABC variety show, and spent much of the 1980s in serious financial distress, filing for bankruptcy in 1983 and having his remaining possessions seized by the IRS in 1989 over $2.5 million in unpaid taxes; Eddie Murphy, who credited Foxx as the most naturally funny person he ever encountered, personally paid for Foxx's funeral after his 1991 death. Foxx died of a heart attack while rehearsing for the series 'The Royal Family,' collapsing on set in front of cast and crew who, due to his character's famous recurring fake heart attacks on 'Sanford and Son,' initially assumed he was simply performing the same bit and did not seek help immediately.

Sources

1. Encyclopædia Britannica; Historic Missourians (Missouri State Historical Society); EBSCO Research Starters; Encyclopedia.com; IMDb biography; ReddFoxx.com official biography