Flip Wilson
Flip Wilson | |
---|---|
Born | Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S. | December 8, 1933
Died | November 25, 1998 Malibu, California, U.S. | (aged 64)
Medium | Stand-up, television, film |
Years active | 1959–1998[1] |
Spouse | Lavenia Patricia "Peaches" Wilson Dean
(m. 1957; div. 1967)Tuanchai "Cookie" MacKenzie
(m. 1979; div. 1984) |
Children | 5 |
Notable works and roles | The Flip Wilson Show |
Clerow "Flip" Wilson Jr. (December 8, 1933 – November 25, 1998) was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series
Wilson was the first African American to host a successful TV variety show.[2][a] In January 1972, Time magazine featured Wilson's image on its cover and named him "TV's first black superstar".[3] He released a number of comedy albums in the 1960s and 1970s and won a Grammy Award for his 1970 album The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress.[4][b]
Wilson kept performing and acting until the 1990s, though at a reduced schedule, up until his death from cancer in 1998. He hosted a short-lived revival of People Are Funny in 1984, and he had the lead role in the 1985–1986 sitcom Charlie & Co.
Early life
Born Clerow Wilson Jr. in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was one of ten children born to Cornelia Bullock and Clerow Wilson Sr.[5][6] His father worked as a handyman but, because of the Great Depression, was often out of work. When Wilson was seven years old, his mother abandoned the family. His father was unable to care for the children alone and he placed many of them in foster homes.[5]
After bouncing from foster homes to reform school, sixteen-year-old Wilson lied about his age and joined the United States Air Force. His outgoing personality and funny stories made him popular; he was even asked to tour military bases to cheer up other servicemen. Claiming that he was always "flipped out", Wilson's barracks mates gave him the nickname "Flip", which he used as his stage name.
Discharged from the Air Force in 1954, Wilson started working as a bellhop in San Francisco's Manor Plaza Hotel. At the Plaza's nightclub, Wilson found extra work playing a drunken patron between regularly scheduled acts. His inebriated character proved popular and Wilson began performing it in clubs throughout California. At first Wilson would simply ad-lib onstage, but eventually he added written material and his act became more sophisticated.
Career
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Wilson toured regularly through nightclubs with a black clientele in the so-called "
Wilson's warm and ebullient personality was infectious. Richard Pryor told Wilson, "You're the only performer that I've ever seen who goes on the stage and the audience hopes that you like them."
A routine titled "Columbus", from the 1967 album Cowboys and Colored People, brought Wilson to Hollywood industry attention. In this bit, Wilson retells the story of Christopher Columbus from an anachronistic urbanized viewpoint in which Columbus convinces the Spanish monarchs to fund his voyage by noting that discovering America means that he can also discover Ray Charles. Hearing this, Queen "Isabel Johnson", whose voice is an early version of Wilson's eventual "Geraldine" character, says that "Chris" can have "all the money you want, honey – You go find Ray Charles!" When Columbus departs from the dock, an inebriated Isabella is there, testifying to one and all that "Chris gonna find Ray Charles!"
In 1970, Wilson won a
The Flip Wilson Show
In 1970, Wilson's variety series,
The Flip Wilson Show aired through 1974, generating high ratings and popularity among viewers and winning strong critical acclaim, with 11
Later years
Wilson acted in TV and theatrical movies, including .
During March–July 1984, Wilson hosted a revival of
Personal life
Wilson was married twice. In 1957, he married Lavenia Patricia "Peaches" Wilson (née Dean); they divorced in 1967. He had four children with his common-law wife Blonell Pitman.[ In 1979, he married Tuanchai "Cookie" MacKenzie, with whom he had one child; they divorced in 1984.
In March 1981, Wilson was arrested and charged with possession of a small quantity of cocaine.[2]
In 1993, a motorcycle accident left Wilson's son David paralyzed.[12]
Death
On November 25, 1998, Wilson died from
Discography
- 1961 — Flippin' (Minit)
- 1964 — Flip Wilson's Pot Luck (Scepter, reissued as Funny and Live at the Village Gate, Springboard)
- 1967 — Cowboys and Colored People (Atlantic)
- 1968 — You Devil You (Atlantic)
- 1970 — The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress (Little David)
- 1970 — The Flip Wilson Show (Little David)
- 1970 — Flipped Out (Sunset Records)
- 1972 — Geraldine (Little David)
In popular culture
Wilson popularized the phrase "The devil made me do it." The catchphrase "What you see is what you get," often used by Wilson's Geraldine character, inspired researchers at PARC (and elsewhere) to create the acronym WYSIWYG for computer software.[14]
Footnotes
- ^ Nat King Cole was the first African American entertainer to host a television variety show, in 1956. Sammy Davis Jr. hosted a short-lived variety show in 1966.
- ^ Some sources, including Wilson's obituary in The New York Times, erroneously state that Wilson won his Grammy in 1968 for his album Flip Wilson You Devil You.
References
- ^ a b Richard Natale (1998-11-29). "Flip Wilson dies at 64". Variety. Retrieved 2019-12-21.
- ^ a b c d e f g Watkins, Mel (November 27, 1998). "Flip Wilson, outrageous comic and TV host, dies at 64". Obituary. The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 11, 2010. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
- ^ "Flip Wilson". time.com. January 31, 1972. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
- ^ "Flip Wilson". Past Grammys Winners. Grammy.com. The Recording Academy. Archived from the original on April 1, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-313-38085-3.
- ISSN 0012-9011.
- ^ "episode "Lucy and Flip go legit"". IMDb. Here's Lucy. 1971.
- ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
- IMDb
- ^ Fearn-Banks, Kathleen (2006). "Wilson, Flip (1933–1998)". The Historical Dictionary of African-American Television. Lanham, Maryland: Scarecrow Press. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved April 1, 2017.
- ^ "Flip Wilson". IMDb. biography.
- ProQuest 199960090.
- ^ "Autopsy: The Last Hours of Flip Wilson." Autopsy: The Last Hours of.... Narrated by Eric Meyers, executive produced by Suzy Davis, Phil Mount, and Michael Kelpie. Reelz, 30 Apr. 2023.
- ISBN 0-465-04226-0– via Google Books.
Bibliography
- "Wilson, Flip". Encyclopædia Britannica. 1998. 9124128.
- Miles, J.H.; Davis, J.J.; Ferguson-Roberts, S.E.; Giles, R.G. (2001). Almanac of African American Heritage. Paramus, NJ: Prentice Hall Press. ISBN 978-0735202269.
- Potter, J. (2002). African American Firsts. New York, NY: Kensington Publishing Corp. ISBN 978-0758292414.
External links
- Newcomb, Horace, ed. (2014). "Flip Wilson Show, The". Encyclopedia of Television. Routledge. pp. 888–889. ISBN 978-1-135-19472-7.
- Flip Wilson at IMDb
- Flip Wilson at the Museum of Broadcast Communications Encyclopedia of Television
- Professor Kathleen Fearn-Banks. "Biographical Information on Flip Wilson". fearnbanks.blogspot.com. University of Washington. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2006-04-04.
- Flip Wilson on The Ed Sullivan Show on YouTube