LaWanda Page
| LaWanda Page | |
|---|---|
LaWanda Page in 1977.
|
|
| Birth name | Alberta Peal |
| Born |
October 19, 1920 Cleveland, Ohio, United States |
| Died | September 14, 2002 (aged 81) Hollywood, California, United States |
| Medium | stand-up, television, film |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Word play, observational comedy, Black comedy, blue comedy |
| Subject(s) | W |
| Notable works and roles | Aunt Esther in Sanford and Son, Sanford Arms and Sanford |
human sexuality, race relations, African-American culture,
LaWanda Page (October 19, 1920 – September 14, 2002), born Alberta Peal, was an American actress and comedian best known for her role as Aunt Esther in the popular 1970s television sitcom Sanford and Son. She later reprised this role in the television shows Sanford Arms and Sanford.
LaWanda Page was born on October 19, 1920 in Cleveland, Ohio, but was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She began her show business career working small nightclubs billed as "The Bronze Goddess of Fire," an act which included Page eating fire and lighting cigarettes with her fingertips. She performed the cigarette feat on an episode of Sanford and Son titled "The Greatest Show in Watts" in Season 5 of the series, in which Fred Sanford held a circus in his front yard. On "Sanford and Son," she played Esther Anderson—better known to audiences as Aunt Esther—the older sister of Elisabeth Sanford, the mother of her nephew Lamont Sanford and the late wife of Lamont's father Fred G. Sanford.
After paying dues on the club circuit, where she shared stages with noted comedians such as Foxx and Richard Pryor, Page moved to Los Angeles in the 1960s where she became a member of the comedy group Skillet, Leroy & Co. (Skillet was Ernest "Skillet" Mayhand, born March 1, 1916 in Ohio, died May 12, 2007; Leroy was Leroy Daniels, born Wilbert LeRoy Daniel, November 28, 1928 in Oklahoma, died December 11, 1993.) In Los Angeles, Page started honing the feisty approach to comedy that would make her famous.
LaWanda Page and Redd Foxx, who portrayed Fred Sanford, were very close friends from the time they were pre-teens, having attended school and growing up together in St. Louis. Eventually, both entered the field of comedy separately and performed their own stage acts. During her tenure as a stand-up comic, a career she continued into the 1990s, she was often billed as "The Queen of Comedy" or "The Black Queen of Comedy".
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