LaWanda Page "Sanford and Son" 1975 - Bobbie Wygant Archive

wanda i suppose one question that is upper mind uppermost in everyone's mind now about sanford and sun is red going to stay the whole season well we certainly hope so all indications seem well yes i think they will i think he'll stay they come to terms well i imagine so i don't really know but i know he'll be back on the 8th yeah yes and i know i'll be glad to have him back he personally picked you for the role of anne annester didn't he well yes he did well what actually happened i was working in a nightclub in los angeles with the comedy team skillet mcgroy that we've been together for 20 years and uh aaron rubin the producer he happened to be in the club that night and he saw me doing this act we call it the undress bit where i get down with scooter you know now he shoots his clothes off and i take all my clothes back and this impressed aaron very much so he goes back and he tells red he says that girl that um you know i saw with skilled and leroy he says i think she'll be the girlfriend asked her so red so that's lawanda i know the wonder well i've known red all my life because we went to school together did you where was that in st louis ah and uh he says yeah i'll say lawanda would be the one so red gets on the phone calls me up at two o'clock in the morning and i hadn't heard from red you know in a long long time and um anyway he says come on out and read for jane murray and i said so i'm not going to read for jane murray i said i went read for a month before and b richards got the part he says come on out and read says i know you're going to get it because i know what you can do so i went out the next morning to the studio and i read for jane i impressed her and she's a wonderful person very lovely person and then i read for aaron again and next thing i knew i was down in rehearsal hall three the next thing i knew i was in esther did red uh coach you or anything yes yes we see at first my first week there i had never worked tv before i just worked night clubs see i used to be a dancer and then i started doing comedy and uh i was so nervous the first week you know and i didn't know exactly what to do i thought you had to be an actress you know this is what i thought and i said gosh i'm no actress i never thought i was an actress you know i always just do what come naturally just like i do now on tv whatever comes natural that's what i do you know and i hadn't seen red in quite some time since he had got to be a big star and i didn't know whether red you know felt the same way by me like he did years ago and i was nervous about that and then every day they changed the script and i didn't know that you know and i'd go home and i'd study so hard and the next day i go back some lines were changed you know and i didn't know that they did all this and so they were gonna let me go and red says no you're not gonna let the wanda go because i know what lawanda can do he says give me a week give me just one day with luanda say let her come over to my place here on the sunday but in the meantime jack shade the director is a wonderful guy god bless him he says luanda he says if you want to come down on saturdays he says i'll come to the studio he says and i'll help you and he did and i'll never forget him because they all they were pulling for me and they knew i was trying so hard and then when red would come in the room i'd freeze because i didn't know you know whether he still felt the same by me so he got me over in the corner and he gave me that old dressing room talk you know that would be talking to dressing room he says little one he says what's wrong with you he says i know you can do it he said now just open your mouth and talk like you're supposed to say i know you can do it he says i'm the same read that i've been for years and he is he's the same read he's never changed i mean reaching the height of fame didn't change him at all he's the same red and then when i could feel that he was the same red then i went on with the script so tuesday night of the taping i did my thing i just did it and aaron was so proud of me and even the prop man everybody was proud of me and you know i was kind of proud to and then you settled down and i settled down and relaxed and that sunday i went over to reds and i rehearsed with him all day that day and that tuesday boy i just walked on in the set and did my thing like i suppose but i did it my way i did the way i felt it so and i even do it now when i do it now i do it the way i feel it because they were trying to see i was supposed to portray a 60 year old woman and i was supposed to my first script was a big role for me i had about about 30 40 pages see and for my very first time that's the time i beat the gangsters up you know and it was sort of you know hard for me at first but that night when i walked on the set i only had god on my mind because you know i'm like this i'm not a fanatic but i do go to church i visit church i was raised up in the church you know and of course i go nightclubs and things too but i do now i visit church i don't belong to any certain church but i do visit and i do believe in god and i live by the 23rd psalms and our father prayers and then i also have a invalid mother you know that i take care of which is 80 years old she's senile but i take care of my mother and i'm going to take care of mama and i don't care what happens i'm taking care of mama and god just fix it so he just opened the door for me for samford and son you know i just walk right in red put my feet in the door so it's up to me to keep it there isn't that lovely and i just love red and i just love the whole cast the whole just everybody that helped me and the audience my audience i just love because the audience is really what made me what i am such a lovely success story i'm happy for you and then i have my girlfriend here kathy cooper here with me she's also a comedian and a singer and she takes care of my mother when i'm working at the studio she's a nurse too and she treats my mother just like it's her mother and i'm just so grateful to have her you know and i'm just grateful i just thank god for everything the wonder you're beautiful thank you very much thank you

Channel: The Bobbie Wygant Archive

Views: 495,178

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Id: Qkl4X8qEyNs

Length: 6min 35sec (395 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 17 2021