Hal Williams, 227 and Sanford and Son Star, Dies at 91

People ^ | July 16 2026 | Victoria Edel and Kirsty Hatcher

[OttawaFreeper]

Hal Williams has died at the age of 91.

During the ‘70s, Williams was a regular TV presence, appearing on shows like Sanford and Son and The Waltons. In 1985, he was cast on the sitcom 227.

A representative for Williams told Deadline that the actor died on the morning on Wednesday, July 15, at his home in Rancho Mirage, California.

[OttawaFreeper]

RIP, even though Lorna Patterson was a TV crush of mine back in 1982, lol. Believe Marla Gibbs (227) is still around and kicking at 95.

[usafa92]

Sgt. Ross in Pvt. Benjamim as well. Both the movie and TV show.

[PGalt]

Condolences to family and friends of Hal Williams.

[Merrick]

He and Howard Platt used to do bookings as Smitty and Hoppy for groups. Platt is still with us.

[Doctor Congo]

He played Harley Foster in 7 episodes of The Waltons.

[Red Badger]

Rest in Peace, Hal, thanks for the memories...............

[Hyman Roth]

Those two guys were comedy gold. My favorite episode was Probably Partially Parsley. The wild parsley episode.

[weezel]

R.I.P. Smitty.

[alexander_busek]

There seems to be some confusion about his age. IMDb lists the following:

Born December 14, 1938; Died July 15, 2026 (87)

Regards,

[woweeitsme]

Marla was hysterical on The Jeffersons.

[Bobalu]

[Sirius Lee]

“Lamont, you big dummy!”

[No name given]

Rest In Peace, Hal Williams.

[DCBryan1]

No, that was Demond Wilson:

Hal:

[Bob434]

Lamont was a born again Christian with a pretty strong faith. As well, he was an excellent tap dancer. He did a skit on Sanford and son, and man he was really flying. Very talented.

[x]

Were his last words, “I’m comin’ Elizabeth. This is the big one!”?

[x]

Mass entertainment has no new ideas now, but it’s worth remembering that Norman Lear’s show were rip-offs of English originals (and the originality of TV in the Sixties had a lot to do with the audacity of the new medium and the willingness to put any crazy premise on the air).

[wally_bert]

I saw adverts for a convention on YouTube that I could have never made it with both of them.

RIP Hal.

[Zack Attack]

227, not to be confused with the 1969-74 series Room 222 -which I just did :)

[lowbridge]

I loved their act. The white police officer goes into a description of events, speaking in official police jargon. Then everyone looks at Smitty for a street talk translation.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zniRbkQ9kDw