Redd Foxx
Redd Foxx was a comedian known for his raunchy stand-up routines and influential style of comedy.
TV Actor
December 9, 1922
Sagittarius
October 11, 1991
68
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
John Elroy Sanford, better known as Redd Foxx, was a groundbreaking comedian and actor famous for his role as Fred G. Sanford on the TV show Sanford and Son. He started his career in the 1940s and 1950s, performing stand-up comedy on the “Chitlin’ Circuit.” Foxx’s raunchy, blue humor style influenced many comedians and earned him significant underground success with a series of X-rated comedy records. Some of his other notable works include Harlem Nights, The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour, Cotton Comes to Harlem, and Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex* (*But Were Afraid to Ask). In 2004, Foxx was posthumously inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. Despite facing challenges throughout his career, he attempted to revive his most famous character in 1980 with “Sanford” and returned to television in 1991 with “The Royal Family.”