Whitman Mayo

 

"I've always played older parts.  When I was 19, I played 60.  When I was a kid I got pleasure out of studying old people.  I took joy in their idiosyncrasies.  Older folk are like children.  They can do and say what they want and get away with it."

Whitman Blount Mayo, Jr., while not exactly a household name, was born in New York City on November 15, 1930.  He spent his early years growing up in Harlem before his family moved to Los Angeles in the late 1940s.  There he completed high school before enlisting in the Army.

In 1951, Mayo was stationed in Korea, where he served a two-year tour of duty in the Korean War.  Upon his discharge in 1953, he returned to Los Angeles, where he continued his education.

Mayo attended UCLA, where he majored in theatre.  He paid his way through college through a variety of odd jobs, serving as a waiter, a vintner and a probation officer.  He also served as a youth counselor, mentoring delinquent boys.  When he wasn't studying or working, he began acting in small, local productions.

In the early 1970s, producer Norman Lear was casting his latest sit-com Sanford and Son (right), an American adaptation of the British series Steptoe and Son.  Lear recruited Mayo from the New Lafayette Theatre in Harlem and offered him a recurring role on the series.

Mayo played Grady Wilson, best friend and constant irritant to Fred Sanford.  Although he'd play the role throughout the series' six-year run, Mayo only appeared in roughly one-fourth of all episodes.

Despite this, Lear found the character popular enough to offer him a spin-off in 1976.  The aptly titled Grady was not as successful however, and it was canceled after just ten episodes.  You can watch that series intro here.  Upon its cancellation, Mayo returned to the original series.

Sanford and Son left the airwaves in 1977, after stars Redd Foxx and Demond Wilson left for other projects.  Hoping to salvage something from the successful franchise, NBC created a new series called Sanford Arms, which saw Good Times star Teddy Wilson (Sweet Daddy) opening up a hotel at the former junkyard of Fred G. Sanford.  No, I am not making this up.  Mayo, along with Lawanda Page (Aunt Esther) and Don Bexley (Bubba) were invited back to continue their supporting roles, but it wouldn't be for long.  The new series was canceled after just eight episodes, only four of which aired on television.

Incredibly, audiences had still not seen the last of Grady.  The character was revived once again in 1981 when NBC debuted Sanford, a new series that saw Redd Foxx back in the title role.  It would only last for two short seasons however and would undergo several cast changes.  You can watch that series intro here.

At the same time he was playing Grady, Mayo was also appearing on a locally produced children's show in Los Angeles called That's Cat, with cat being another word for "cool."  Mayo played the role of Grandpa, a kindly gentleman who offered sage advice to the show's other main characters.  It ran for three seasons before being canceled.

Mayo continued acting throughout the 1980s, including a small role in the film DC Cab (left), starring Mr. T.  Mayo played a street philosopher named "Mr. Rhythm," offering up sage advice (again) to the film's main players.  Here's a sample of his work.

By the 1990s, Mayo and his wife moved to Atlanta, where he taught drama at Clark Atlanta University.  Although he had retired from the spotlight, he would never be forgotten by his fans, chief among them being Conan O'Brien.  The Late Night host was interested in having Mayo appear on the program, but producers were unable to locate him. 

In response, O'Brien spent several weeks on the air asking viewers to send in any information on Mayo sightings, even going so far as to set up a 1-800 number where viewers could call in their tips.  Again, I'm not kidding.  They even got Robert Stack, who at the time was hosting Unsolved Mysteries, to produce a "Where's Grady?" parody segment for the show.  I'm still not kidding.  You can watch that segment here.  Mayo eventually appeared on the program, ending the mystery once and for all.

On May 22, 2001, Whitman Mayo died of a heart attack.  He was 70 years old.  He was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens in College Park, Georgia.

Location: Garden of the Saints

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Ironically, Mayo died at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.
  
  
• Grady's name was an homage to series star Demond Wilson, who's birth name was Grady. 
  
  
• Mayo's son Rahn is a former politician, who served in the Georgia House of Representatives from 2009 until 2017.  You can follow his current activities on Twitter.
  
  
• Mayo's "Sanford and Son" co-stars Lawanda Page and Redd Foxx have both been profiled here at Six Feet Under Hollywood.