Halroy Candis Williams (born December 14, 1938) is an American actor, best known for his recurring roles as Police Officer Smith ("Smitty") on '' Sanford and Son'' (1972–1976), Harley Foster on ''

The Waltons ''The Waltons'' is an American historical drama television series about a family in rural Virginia during the Great Depression and World War II. It was created by Earl Hamner Jr., based on his 1961 book '' Spencer's Mountain'' and the 1963 fil ...

'' (1973-1980), and as the patriarch Lester Jenkins, the husband of

Marla Gibbs Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer and television producer, whose career spans six decades. Gibbs is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, in th ...

's character, on the

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sitcom ''

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'' which originally aired from 1985 until 1990. His film credits include '' Private Benjamin'' (1980), '' Guess Who'' (2005), and ''

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

'' (2012).

Biography

Born Halroy Candis Williams on December 14, 1938On This Date A DayByDay Look at Historic, By Brian Merrill · 2006
/ref>), Williams was raised in Columbus, Ohio. In the early 1960s, Williams began acting in community theater in Ohio. Williams worked as a postal worker and corrections officer before moving to Hollywood to pursue an acting career in 1968. Williams began pursuing his acting career full-time in 1970. Since then, Willams has appeared in movies such as Paul Schrader's ''

Hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

'',

Howard Zieff Howard Buton Zieff (October 21, 1927 – February 22, 2009) (pronounced Zeef) was an American director, television commercial director, and advertising photographer. Early life Zieff was born to Jewish parents in Chicago, Illinois, then mov ...

's '' Private Benjamin'' (he also portrayed the role of Sgt L.C. "Ted" Ross in the television series of the same name), and Clint Eastwood's '' The Rookie''. In the early to mid-1990s, he starred in many of comic Sinbad's productions, including ''

The Sinbad Show ''The Sinbad Show'' is an American sitcom starring comedian David "Sinbad" Adkins that was premiered on September 16 of 1993 on Fox. The show's main plot is about a bachelor taking in two orphaned children. Chuck Brown performed this sitcom's th ...

'' and ''

The Cherokee Kid ''The Cherokee Kid'' is a 1996 American Television film, made for television Western (genre), western film directed by Paris Barclay for HBO. The film's stars were Sinbad (entertainer), Sinbad, James Coburn, Burt Reynolds, Gregory Hines, A Mart ...

''. In one of his latest films, Williams portrayed the grandfather in the

Bernie Mac Bernard Jeffrey McCullough (October 5, 1957 – August 9, 2008), better known by his stage name Bernie Mac, was an American comedian and actor. Born and raised on Chicago's South Side, Mac gained popularity as a stand-up comedian. He joined fell ...

film '' Guess Who'' which was released in 2005.

Personal life

Williams has been married twice and has three children. On April 11, 1975, Williams married Gay Anderson, they later divorced in November 1976.

Selected credits

Theater

Film

Television

References

External links

*
Williams talks about his role in Bernie Mac movie "Guess Who" on movies.about.com website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Hal 1938 births Living people American male film actors Male actors from Columbus, Ohio 20th-century American male actors 21st-century American male actors African-American male actors American male television actors 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American people