LaWanda Page
Birthday: Born in 1920-10-18 in
Deathday: 2002-09-13
LaWanda Page (born Alberta Richmond; October 19, 1920 – September 14, 2002) was an American actress, comedian, and dancer whose career spanned six decades. Crowned "The Queen of Comedy" or "The Black Queen of Comedy", Page melded blue humor, signifyin', and observational comedy to jokes about sexuality, race relations, African-American culture, and religion. She released five solo albums, including the 1977 gold-selling Watch It, Sucker!. She also collaborated on two albums with comedy group Skillet, Leroy & Co. As an actress, Page is best known for portraying the Bible-toting and sharp-tongued "Aunt" Esther Anderson in the popular television sitcom Sanford and Son, which originally aired from 1972 until 1977. Page later reprised this role in the short-lived television shows Sanford Arms (1976–1977) and Sanford (1980–1981). She also co-starred in the 1979 short-lived series Detective School. Throughout her career, Page advocated for fair pay and equal opportunities for Black performers.
TV Credits
Amazing Stories
Character: Aunt Esther
A truly amazing, fantastical, science fiction, funny and odd, and sometimes scary, sad and endearing anthology series presented by Steven Spielberg with guest appearances by many famous actors, actresses, and directors....
The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour
Character:
The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour was a ABC produced variety show hosted by Redd Foxx (John Elroy Sanford) following his hit sitcom Sanford and Son. It debuted on September 15, 1977 and last aired on January 26, 1978. Despite being rated by critics as entertaining and funny, the show was canceled due to low ratings at the end of it's first season....
Dinah!
Character: Self
Dinah's show premiered 9 September 1974 and continued through to 4 September 1981. She started out the 70's with Dinah's Place which usually featured one guest and was more of a home oriented show about cooking, crafts and occasionally music. This format lasted until May of 1974. When the show came back in October of 1974 the format had changed drastically to a variety talk show which was called Dinah. and went on until 1981. This show was also known as "Dinah and Friends" during the summer of 1...
Starsky & Hutch
Character: Lady Bessie
Streetwise Detective David Starsky partners up with a more intellectual partner, Kenneth 'Hutch' Hutchinson, to protect citizens and patrol the streets of Bay City....
Diff'rent Strokes
Character:
The series stars Gary Coleman and Todd Bridges as Arnold and Willis Jackson, two African American boys from Harlem who are taken in by a rich white Park Avenue businessman named Phillip Drummond and his daughter Kimberly, for whom their deceased mother previously worked. During the first season and first half of the second season, Charlotte Rae also starred as the Drummonds' housekeeper, Mrs. Garrett....
The Love Boat
Character: Stella Marshall
Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins....
Brothers and Sisters
Character: Hattie
Brothers and Sisters is an American sitcom that aired on NBC from January to April 1979. The series attempted to capitalize on the success of the 1978 motion picture National Lampoon's Animal House. It was the second of three frat-house comedy series to air in early 1979....
227
Character:
A housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and discusses all manner of things with her neighbors....
The Parent 'Hood
Character:
The Parent 'Hood is an American sitcom that aired on The WB airing from January 18, 1995 to July 25, 1999. The series starred Robert Townsend and Suzzanne Douglas. Originally to have been titled Father Knows Nothing, the series was one of the four sitcoms that aired as part of the original Wednesday night two-hour lineup that helped launch The WB network....
Family Matters
Character: Elmerita Puckerwood
A long-running dramedy centering on the Winslow family, a middle-class African American family living in Chicago, and their pesky next-door neighbor, ultra-nerd Steve Urkel. A spin-off of Perfect Strangers....
Dream On
Character: Eddie's Grandmother
The family life, romantic life, and career of Martin Tupper, a divorced New York City book editor. The show distinctively interjected clips from older black and white television series to punctuate Tupper's feelings or thoughts....
Martin
Character:
Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole....
The Richard Pryor Show
Character:
The Richard Pryor Show is an American comedy variety series starring Richard Pryor. It premiered on NBC on Tuesday, September 13, 1977 at 8 p.m. opposite ABC's popular television shows Laverne & Shirley and Happy Days. The show was produced by Rocco Urbisci for Burt Sugarman Productions. It was conceived out of a special that Pryor did for NBC in May 1977. Because the special was a major hit, both critically and commercially, Pryor was given a chance to host and star in his own television show....
Sanford Arms
Character: Aunt Esther Anderson
Sanford Arms is an American sitcom that aired from September to October 1977 on NBC. The series is an attempted continuation of the sitcom Sanford and Son. After six seasons, Redd Foxx left Sanford and Son to star in a variety show for ABC. The producers planned to continue the series with Demond Wilson as Lamont, but Wilson left the project in a dispute over his expected salary as the star of the series. The producers decided to continue the project with a new character. Norman Lear stepped do...
B.A.D. Cats
Character:
B.A.D. Cats is an American action/police drama that aired on ABC from January until February 1980 on Friday nights at 8 PM Eastern time. The series stars Asher Brauner, Steve Hanks, and Michelle Pfeiffer in one of her first major acting roles. The acronym B.A.D Cats stood for 'Burglary Auto Detail, Commercial Auto Thefts'....
Detective School
Character:
Detective School is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC for four months in 1979, for a total of 13 episodes. The show was about an assortment of students who went to night school to learn basic detective skills, but who kept getting caught up in real criminal cases and getting themselves and their teacher into trouble. This show was written, directed, and produced by Jeff Harris and Bernie Kukoff, the creators of Diff'rent Strokes....
Sanford
Character: Esther Anderson
Redd Foxx isn’t done scheming and wise-cracking in the spin-off to one of America's most beloved sitcoms....
Sanford and Son
Character: Aunt Esther Anderson
The misadventures of a cantankerous junk dealer and his frustrated son....
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts
Character: Self
The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts is a NBC television special show hosted by entertainer Dean Martin from 1974 to 1984. For a series of 54 specials and shows, Martin would periodically "roast" a celebrity. These roasts were patterned after the roasts held at the New York Friars' Club in New York City. The format would have the celebrity guest seated at a banquet table, and one by one the guest of honor was affectionately chided or insulted about his career by his fellow celebrity friends. In 197...
Movie Credits
Shakes the Clown
Character: Female Clown Barfly
Shakes plods about his duties as party clown, and uses all of his free time getting seriously drunk. Binky, another clown, wins the spot on a local kiddie show, which depresses Shakes even more, and his boss threatens him with unemployment if he can't get his act under control....
Friday
Character: Old Lady
Craig and Smokey are two guys in Los Angeles hanging out on their porch on a Friday afternoon, smoking and drinking, looking for something to do....
Good-bye Cruel World
Character: Wilma
The story involves newscaster Rodney Pointsetter (Shawn) who is so depressed between his job and his family that he tries to make a film about his life, which he intends to culminate with his own suicide. It is often interrupted with irrelevant comic sketches that an emcee claims that the audience prefers to see....
My Blue Heaven
Character: Hotel Maid
FBI agent Barney Coopersmith is assigned to protect former Mafia figure turned informant Vincent Antonelli. In the witness protection program one is supposed to keep a low profile, but that is something that Antonelli has trouble doing. Coopersmith certainly has his hands full keeping Antonelli away from the Mafia hitmen who want to stop him testifying, not to mention the nightclubs......
CB4
Character: Grandma
A "rockumentary", covering the rise to fame of MC Gusto, Stab Master Arson, and Dead Mike: members of the rap group "CB4". We soon learn that these three are not what they seem and don't appear to know as much about rap music as they claim... but a lack of musical ability in an artist never hurts sales, does it? You've just got to play the part of a rap star......
Zapped!
Character: Mrs. Jones
Peyton and Barney are fun loving high school students working on a science project with white mice. When one of the mice begins to move food toward itself with out touching it, Barney finds he has accidently discovered a formula for telekinetic powers. Now, how much trouble can a high school boy who can move things with just his mind get into?...
Mausoleum
Character: Elsie
By way of an unnatural urge during her Mother's funeral, Susan enters her family's mausoleum, which unleashes an evil presence to lurk inside of her....
The Legend of Dolemite! Bigger & Badder
Character: Self
Rudy Ray Moore tells all as only he can in this all-new retrospective legendary career. From his humble beginnings to his crowning as "King of the Party Records," Rudy Ray guides us through his struggles and triumphs in the film and music industries....
Women Tell the Dirtiest Jokes
Character:
All female hardcore stand-up comedy special....
The Complete Richard Pryor Roast
Character:
Unaired roast of Richard Pryor by the cast of The Richard Pryor Show including Robin Williams (Good Will Hunting, Dead Poets Society), Sandra Bernhard (Without You I'm Nothing), Shirley Hemphill (What's Happening!!), Paul Mooney (Hollywood Shuffle), LaWanda Page (Sanford and Son), Tim Reid (WKRP in Cincinnati), Edie McClurg (Ferris Bueller's Day Off) and Marsha Warfield (Night Court) and Peter Cullen (Transformers, The Tigger Movie)....
Stonestreet: Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
Character: Erna
A female private detective goes undercover as a porno actress to find a millionaire's missing daughter....
The Meteor Man
Character: Old Nurse
One night Jefferson Reed gets hit in the chest by a souped-up chunk of meteor. So he can fly, but he's scared of heights. He can master the information in any book ... for about thirty seconds. Now his friends and family want him to protect their community from the dreaded Golden Lords....
Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Character: Old School's Mom
When Ashtray moves to South Central L.A. to live with his father (who appears to be the same age he is) and grandmother (who likes to talk tough and smoke reefer), he falls in with his gang-banging cousin Loc Dog, who along with the requisite pistols and Uzi carries a thermo-nuclear warhead for self-defense. Will Ashtray be able to keep living the straight life?...