Theodore Wilson

Career

Born in New York City, Wilson studied music at Florida A&M University before switching to drama. Upon returning to New York, he joined the Negro Ensemble Company and later worked with the Arena Stage Repertory. He made his acting debut in the blaxploitation film, Cotton Comes to Harlem, in 1970. The following year, Wilson moved to Los Angeles. He made his television debut in a two-episode role as Hawthorne Dooley on the television series The Waltons. In 1973, Wilson was cast as High Strung on the CBS sitcom Roll Out. The series was cancelled after 12 episodes. The following year, Wilson was cast as Earl Chambers, a postman on the ABC sitcom That's My Mama. That series was also short-lived and cancelled after two seasons.

In September 1976, Wilson signed with Tandem Productions, the production company owned by Bud Yorkin and Norman Lear who produced some of the most popular sitcoms of the 1970s. Wilson went on to guest star in several Yorkin/Lear-produced series including All in the Family, Sanford and Son, What's Happening!!, The Jeffersons, and 13 Queens Boulevard. In 1976, Wilson was cast as Sweet Daddy Williams, a street hustler on the CBS sitcom Good Times. Wilson appeared as Sweet Daddy in a recurring role. In August 1977, it was announced that Wilson would star in a spin-off of the hit sitcom Sanford and Son called Sanford Arms. The series was intended to be a continuation of the highly popular Sanford and Son, which ended in March 1977 when both the series' stars, Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson, left the series. Wilson starred as Phil Wheeler, an Army veteran and widower who has purchased the Sanford Arms, a rooming house, from his old Army buddy Fred G. Sanford. Upon its premiere in September 1977, Sanford Arms was critically panned and drew low ratings. It was cancelled after four episodes.

After the series was cancelled, Wilson made various guest appearances in episodes of The White Shadow (he also wrote a 1980 episode), Enos, Gimme a Break!, The Golden Girls, and What's Happening Now. In 1986, he had a role as Jim-Jam on another short-lived series, The Redd Foxx Show. Wilson continued to work throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s, appearing in Alien Nation, Dallas, Family Matters, Tales from the Crypt, Gabriel's Fire, Mama's Family, and Quantum Leap. He was also featured in films The Hunter (1980), Blake Edwards' A Fine Mess, and That's Life! (both 1986). Wilson made his last onscreen appearance in Blood in Blood Out, a 1993 crime drama released after his death.

Personal life

In 1980, Wilson married actress Joan Pringle. The couple had two children and remained married until Wilson's death in 1991.

Death

On July 21, 1991, Wilson died of a stroke at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, at the age of 47.