{"id":22486,"date":"2026-09-17T12:36:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:36:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/?p=22486"},"modified":"2026-09-17T12:37:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T12:37:14","slug":"the-tv-legend-we-all-grew-up-watching-is-gone-fans-are-remembering-a-career-that-meant-so-much","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/the-tv-legend-we-all-grew-up-watching-is-gone-fans-are-remembering-a-career-that-meant-so-much\/","title":{"rendered":"The TV Legend We All Grew Up Watching Is Gone\u2014Fans Are Remembering a Career That Meant So Much"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Hal Williams, Beloved Star of Sanford and Son and 227, Dies at 91<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Television has lost a familiar and respected face. Veteran actor Hal Williams, whose career helped bring memorable portrayals of Black family life and fatherhood to American television, has died at the age of 91.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams passed away on July 15, 2026, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California, according to his representative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For generations of viewers, Williams was best remembered as Officer \u201cSmitty\u201d Smith on the classic sitcom <em>Sanford and Son<\/em>. His recurring appearances alongside Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson made him a recognizable part of the show&#8217;s enduring legacy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams later became widely known for playing Lester Jenkins on <em>227<\/em>, where he portrayed the husband of Marla Gibbs\u2019 character, Mary Jenkins. The NBC sitcom ran from 1985 to 1990 and was noted for its depiction of a middle-class Black family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Continue reading&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--nextpage-->\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His career extended far beyond those two beloved shows. Williams appeared in productions including <em>The Waltons<\/em>, <em>Private Benjamin<\/em>, <em>Good Times<\/em>, <em>The Sinbad Show<\/em>, <em>Guess Who<\/em>, and <em>Flight<\/em>. He also remained active late in his career, appearing in the <em>Matlock<\/em> reboot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Williams began pursuing acting as an adult after working in other fields, eventually moving to Hollywood in 1968. His career would span nearly six decades and leave him with a remarkable body of television and film work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His passing marks the end of a long career that touched several generations of viewers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Which Hal Williams role do you remember most? Share your favorite memory in the comments.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Hal Williams, Beloved Star of Sanford and Son and 227, Dies at 91 Television has lost a familiar and respected&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22488,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22486"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22487,"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22486\/revisions\/22487"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22488"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/menufiyat.net\/sirbenet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}