Whitman Mayo
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Whitman Mayo (November 13, 1930 — May 22, 2001) was an African-American actor best known for playing the character Grady Wilson on the American television sitcom Sanford and Son.
Noted for portraying characters older than his actual age, Whitman Mayo was in his early 40s in the early 1970s when he first played the sexagenarian "Grady" on Sanford and Son — a role that popularized the expression "Good Goobily Goop!" Nearly thirty years later, his "Grady" role had just about caught up with him in terms of age and, in terms of Americana, had assumed something of a cult status.
He was born in New York City and grew up in Harlem and Queens, moving at 17 to Southern California with his family. He served in the United States Army from 1951-53, then did tours of study at Chaffey College, Los Angeles City College, and UCLA. He began doing a little acting at this time, but nothing stuck. He drifted and liked to boast that he played serious volleyball in Mexico for a year. During these times in his life of not being fixed in a career, he also worked as a probation officer counseling young people, picked grapes, waited tables, and did other things for the railroad and a dairy, and not necessarily in that order.
In the late 1960s, he joined the New Lafayette Theater repertory company in New York City and began settling down in an acting career. His call to Sanford and Son came shortly thereafter when a friend from the New Lafayette group who was by that time writing for Norman Lear recommended Mayo for a part in a single episode. His portrayal caught on and he lasted through the entire duration of the show, even filling in for Redd Foxx as the leading character when Foxx held out for more pay during a salary dispute. Having a plethora of experience with the tentative in his life, Mayo viewed his continuing success on the series as fleeting and ventured into other trades to assure financial stability; in 1975, for instance, he opened a travel agency in Inglewood, California.
In 1994, "burned out," as he said, on Los Angeles, he continued to ply his trade in acting, but moved to Fayetteville, Georgia.
In 1996, the show Late Night with Conan O'Brien wished to use him in a sketch but were unable to locate him. The show then started a tongue-in-cheek search for Mayo called "Where's Grady?". After three weeks and over 50,000 calls to NBC from fans who claimed to have spotted him, Mayo finally appeared on Late Night to much fanfare. Mayo revealed that it was his mother who told him of the search after a repair man saw his picture in her house and told her she could be eligible for a reward.
Though this single role tended to typecast his acting and contributions to the profession, Whitman Mayo did not let it define him. In fact, his professional growth took him some distance from the Watts junkyard of the NBC sitcom. He was a frequent guest on Sesame Street. He rounded out his career teaching drama at Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as hosting Liars and Legends on Turner South. He died at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital, whose name has nothing to do with that of his memorable character.
