Redd Foxx returns in new TV show - 'The Royal Family'

Ebony, Oct, 1991

REDD Foxx, the star whose name brings together the most famous pair of four-letter words in comedy, is back on television.

The veteran comedian, who played America's favorite junkman in the hit series, Sanford and Son, takes center stage in CBS' new sitcom, The Royal Family, ending a five-year hiatus from television.

Created by Eddie Murphy, the sitcom pairs Foxx as Alphonso Royal, an Atlanta mailman, with Della Reese, who plays his wife, Victoria. The two stars trade barbs, come-ons and quips in a steady, rapid-fire fashion. Foxx has even come up with a new phrase that hints at profanity while pleasing the censors-"muthafather. "

Foxx put his stamp on the program by suggesting a change in the show's original title, a change that played off his old television trademark heart attack. "They had an idea called Chest Pains, "' he says. "But that sounded too much like Fred Sanford."

While the show's initial reviews have been favorable, Foxx is taking a wait-and-see attitude to what many think will be his triumphant return to the tube.."Well it feels good that I'm going back [on television]," Foxx says. "But, I don't know what's going to be happening. It's been so long. Twenty years is a long time to wait."

At 68, Foxx has good reason to be cautious. He knows how fickle the fame and fortune of stardom can be.

Born in St. Louis, Jon Elroy Sanford knew at a very young age that he wanted to be in show business.

His first break came in 1955 when his first party album, Laff of the Party, became a smash hit. In 1972 he took the role of Fred Sanford and became the star of NBCs Sanford and Son, a show that became the network's top sitcom. Foxx earned as much as $25,000 a week for his work on the series, but the heady thrill of success soon turned to bittersweet controversy.

Contract disputes between Foxx and the sitcom's creators, Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, soon wrecked the show, prompting Foxx to walk off the set and leave the program for several weeks. After five years Foxx left the show for good.

A divorce from his third wife and tax problems stripped Foxx of most of his money and property. His financial quagmire, particularly his problems with the Internal Revenue Service, has left Foxx bitter and clouds his outlook on his return to television. "They'll [the IRS] come in and take the money anyway, and have me living poor like a bum," he says. "Whatever comes out [of The Royal Family] comes out. I'm so disillusioned about the last one that I don't have any thoughts really."

But things are looking up. Foxx recently married his fourth wife, Kaho Cho, and he is back on television with a chance to make another hit sitcom.

I wouldn't like to compare the two shows"' he says. "We only have one show of The Royal Family in the can. Sanford had five years to get going. This one just has the pilot, but the pilot says a lot, and a lot of good that could happen in the future. "