Trivia: Long before Eddie Murphy, Andrew Dice Clay, or Howard Stern raised the ire of censors and threatened the delicate sensibilities of mainstream American good taste, there was Redd Foxx, arguably the most notorious "blue" comic of his day. Prior to finding fame in the 1970s as the star of the popular sitcom Sanford and Son, Foxx found little but infamy throughout the first several decades of his performing career; salty and scatological, his material broke new ground with its point-blank riffs and brazen discussions of sex and color, and although his party albums were generally banned from white-owned record stores, the comedian's funky narrative style and raspy delivery proved highly influential on comic talents of all ethnic backgrounds.Foxx was born John Elroy Sanford in St. Louis on December 9, 1922. While still in his teens, he became a professional performer, working as both a comedian and actor on the so-called "chitlin circuit" of black theaters and nightclubs. He formulated his stage name by combining an old nickname, "Red" (given because of his ruddy complexion), with the surname of baseball's Jimmie Foxx. After cutting a handful of explicit blues records in the mid-'40s, beginning in 1951 he often teamed with fellow comic Slappy White, a partnership which lasted through 1955. Foxx was performing at Los Angeles' Club Oasis when a representative from the tiny Dooto label contacted him about cutting an album. The comedian agreed, and was paid 25 dollars to record Laff of the Party, the first of over 50 albums of Foxx's racy anecdotes. An onslaught of Dooto releases followed, among them over half a dozen other Laff of the Party sets, The Sidesplitter, The New Race Track, Sly Sex, and New Fugg. His records were poorly distributed, and offered primarily in black neighborhoods. When they did appear in white record stores, they were sold under the counter. In the 1960s, Foxx signed to the MF label and his routines became even more explicit, as evidenced by titles like Laff Your Ass Off, Huffin' and a Puffin', I'm Curious (Black), 3 or 4 Times a Day, and Mr. Hot Pants. After a brief tenure on King, he signed to Loma, a division of Frank Sinatra's Reprise imprint. With records like Foxx A Delic and Live at Las Vegas, he became one of the very first performers to use four-letter words on major-label releases.As the 1960s wore on and long-standing cultural barriers began to crumble, Foxx's audience expanded, and he made a number of television appearances. In 1970, he made his film debut in Ossie Davis' Cotton Comes to Harlem. When the film became a surprise hit, Foxx became a hot talent, and soon signed to star in Sanford and Son, a retooled sitcom version of the British television hit Steptoe and Son. The series, which starred Foxx as junk dealer Fred Sanford, premiered in 1972 and became a huge hit, running through 1977. He also continued recording, issuing You Gotta Wash Your Ass, a live set taped at the Apollo Theater, in 1976. The short-lived programs Sanford, The Redd Foxx Show, and The Redd Foxx Comedy Hour followed; additionally, he starred in the 1976 feature Norman, Is That You?, and became a Las Vegas headliner.By the early '80s, Foxx's career hit the skids. By the end of the decade, however, his influence on the new breed of African-American comedians was openly acknowledged, and in 1989 Eddie Murphy tapped him to co-star in his black-themed crime-noir film Harlem Nights. Although the film flopped, Foxx's career was renewed, and in 1991 he began work on a new sitcom, The Royal Family. Tragically, he suffered a heart attack on the series' set and died on October 11, 1991. Still, even in death, Foxx's name remained synonymous with off-color comments; on an episode of the hit show Seinfeld broadcast several years later, Jason Alexander's character, George, was chastised for the "curse toast" he delivered at a friend's wedding, prompting an exasperated Jerry Seinfeld to exclaim, "You were like a Redd Foxx record up there!"

Trivia: Began his acting career at the age of 4 with an appearance in the Broadway play Green Pastures. Was drafted by the Army and served a tour of duty in Vietnam. Guest-starred on an Emmy-winning episode of All in the Family, which helped him earn a lead role on the popular sitcom Sanford and Son. Scaled back his acting work after experiencing a spiritual awakening and becoming a minister in 1983. Is also a writer whose works include several children's books and the memoir Second Banana: The Bitter Sweet Memoirs of the Sanford & Son Years.

Trivia: A distinguished member of Broadway's famed Group Theater, with whom he appeared in Casey Jones (1938) and Night Music (1940), Clancy Cooper entered films with Warner Bros. in 1941. But despite his distinctive theater pedigree, Cooper's busy screen career proved middling at best and he mainly played bit roles. A notable exception came in the 1944 serial Haunted Harbor, as one of hero Kane Richmond's two sidekicks. A veteran of more than 100 feature films, the veteran actor went on to also embrace television, appearing in over 200 episodes in shows such as The Lone Ranger, Adventures of Rin Tin Tin, Gunsmoke, Twilight Zone, Maverick, Dr. Kildare, and The Wild Wild West. Married to novelist Elizabeth Cooper, Clancy Cooper died of a heart attack while driving in Hollywood.

Trivia: Moved to LA from his native Ohio in 1968; worked for the California Youth Authority while trying to break into show business. First TV guest role was in a 1970 episode of That Girl. Had a recurring role on Sanford and Son as Officer "Smitty" Smith. Reprised his role of Sgt. L.C. Ross from Private Benjamin in the 1981-83 CBS sitcom version of the film. Costarred with Marla Gibbs in 227 on-stage in Los Angeles before it became an NBC series in 1985. Set up a scholarship fund for minority students studying TV communications in memory of his son Mark, who died in a camping accident in 1977. With 227 costar Gibbs, was honored at the Giving Back Corporation's spring 2010 Celebrity Roast & Toast.

Trivia: Born in Washington, PA, Bud Yorkin attended Carnegie Tech after service in the U.S. Navy beginning at age 16, and became a television engineer at NBC in 1949. He was already an established producer/director on television, specializing in variety shows featuring Martin and Lewis, Abbott and Costello, and George Gobel. He formed a partnership with producer Norman Lear in 1959, which yielded several Yorkin-directed films including Come Blow Your Horn (1965), Divorce American Style (1967), Inspector Clouseau (1968 -- starring Alan Arkin), and Start the Revolution Without Me (1970). In the early '70s, Yorkin and Lear created All in the Family, a groundbreaking topical situation comedy that completely redefined television comedy with its relatively realistic scripts and subject matter, for which Yorkin was executive producer. Since then his film career has resumed without exceptional success, including an appearance as an actor in 1990's For the Boys. He mostly retired from the industry in the mid-1990s, other than appearing in some TV documentaries. Yorking passed away in 2015, at age 89.

Trivia: Marlene Clark, a black supporting actress and occasional lead, appeared on screen beginning in the '70s.