Since the 1970s, Hal Williams has been gracing our television screens in roles that ranged from the small to the larger-than-life. All the while, he has done it with passion, grace, and kindness.
You may know Williams best for his role as Lester Jenkins on the famed ’80s sitcom, 227 or his role as Officer Smitty on Sanford and Son. These two roles defined his career for generations and set him on a path of hard work that hasn’t stopped him yet.
I recently spoke with Hal Williams about his career and the impact some of his roles have had on the broader reach of television today.
Hal Williams
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From the moment we started talking, I could tell that Williams’ kindness and love was the first thing he put out to the world around him.
“You know, I keep people around me who are positive. All I can tell you is when you point your finger at somebody else, remember two or three fingers on that hand, point right back at you,” Williams said.
“First of all, I tell people, the nomenclature is show business and that there’s a lot more business involved in a show. I used to go around to the high schools and theater groups and young people. I used to tell them that if your aspirations include mansions and limousines and things like that, be prepared for a lot of rejection because you need to get a degree in something. Overnight sensations usually take 25 years,” Williams said.
But, it’s about more than just doing the job of acting. It’s about being able to survive during those first years starting out. Williams had a bit of solid advice for the lean years as well.
“In order to do that, you’ve got to be able to have some kind of substance and supplemental income. Take the Screen Actors Guild, of the 100% membership, 15%, make a living, totally doing acting. The other 85% sell cars, sell real estate, and work at night. Anything they can do to survive.”
That’s not to say Williams didn’t have some positive encouragement for those looking to get into acting.
“It’s very, very, very, very important to have the confidence that you not only are trained to do this, but that you can do so while dealing with rejection, because there is a whole lot more rejection than there is success.”
Williams reflected on his early years of trying to get his career off the ground. As a young single father of three from Columbus, Ohio in 1967, breaking into the industry wasn’t easy — especially because he was Black.
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“I had a passion for it because I had grown up in theaters as a kid. But I had no knowledge of how to get really get into business, except I knew two people in the business, Black folks that have been in there a long time. But you know, there was not that much opportunity for Blacks at that time. But I had two job offers and I took them.”
“I took a chance coming out. I gave myself three years. I trained. I worked nights at LA Airport. I pursued auditions during the day. I was involved in theater, which is still my personal love, to get well grounded and well trained,” Williams added.
“At the end of that three years was 1971. I had three recurring goals after having worked in television commercials. I had recurring roles on Sanford and Son, Harry O with David Johnson, and The Waltons. And they never conflicted. I said, ‘Well, I guess I’m here today to stay,’” Williams laughed.
Hal Williams Sanford and Son
We also dived a bit more into his role on Sanford and Son, which Williams was delighted to speak about.
“They used to tell us they didn’t have anything to do that week and to go make up some lines. So I would go with Howard to a hot dog joint or a hamburger place. And we sit in the parking lot. He would want to know how to incorporate Black slang, Black jargon, and stuff,” Williams said.
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“We [would sit] there write stuff and take it back at the end of the day, to the run through. The producer [would be] on the floor laughing. Then they would take it, embellish it, and make it part of the show. That was a fun show.”
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One of Williams’ most well-known roles was on the classic show 227. He played the husband of Mary Jenkins, whom the show centered on. His daughter was played by a very young, Regina King.
I inquired into whether or not he thought the show could ever be revived since it was extremely popular in the ’80s.
“[Norman Lear] sold his rights to that show. That’s why so far there has not been a reboot like he did with The Jeffersons and All in the Family. And I said, ‘Well, what about 227?’ I found out on the business side that whoever owns it now would have to do that,” Williams said.
Williams also discussed the difference between comedy writing then and now.
“There’s a way to write comedy situations without a bunch of one-line jokes. So the difference [between back then and today] is in the creativity, and the writing and stuff. We’ve brought things to life off the printed page, but it has to be put on that page probably in the first place,” Williams said.
“[The fans I meet] will always say to me, that’s back when they had a good show that you could watch with your family,” Williams added.
While the writing may be different today than it was in the ’70s and ’80s there is still something that holds true about these shows he graced us with. They helped pave the way for Black actors today. Their impact in that respect can’t be understated.
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“It definitely opened up doors in the ’70s that blew it wide open in film and television, because I remember MGM Hollywood was having money problems. And MGM took a chance on a movie called Shaft with Richard Roundtree. It was an overnight sensation, and monetarily, it revived Hollywood. With that came a period of the ’70s, [where they would] make one Black movie and TV show after another.”
“It definitely had an impact,” Williams added. “There’s a lot more Black companies now. There are a lot more Black producers, writers, and directors than they ever were before. They’re all young. But we opened the doors
