Well, here’s a shocker. Beloved character actor Whitman Mayo, most identified with his role as Grady on Sanford and Son…was neither an old timer nor a graduate of the black vaudeville circuits. Doesn’t it seem like he would have been? In reality, he was born in 1930, and was all of 43 when Norman Lear discovered him performing in dinner theatre and scooped him up for Sanford and Son. Prior to this, he’d been in the army and gone to college on the G.I. bill. So popular was Mayo in the role, that he was given his own spin-off series (only lasted ten episodes) and was also cast in the other Sanford and Son spin-offs, Sanford Arms and Sanford. Mayo passed away in 2001. Today is his birthday.
(Travalanche) 