{"id":4292,"date":"2026-07-16T04:35:35","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4292"},"modified":"2026-07-16T04:35:35","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T04:35:35","slug":"hal-williams-227-star-and-sanford-and-son-regular-dies-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4292","title":{"rendered":"Hal Williams, \u2018227\u2019 Star and \u2018Sanford and Son\u2019 Regular, Dies at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\tHal Williams, the TV veteran who appeared in American sitcom staples like \u201c227\u201d and \u201cSanford and Son,\u201d had died, according to his manager. He was 91.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\u201c227\u201d ran from 1985 to 1990, and followed a group of middle-aged tenants living together in an apartment building. Williams starred as Lester Jenkins, who, in the show, was husband to Marla Gibbs\u2019 Mary Jenkins and father to Regina King\u2019s Brenda Jenkins. \u201c227\u201d aired 116 episodes across five seasons on NBC. Series star Jack\u00e9e Harry won an Emmy for best supporting actress for her work on the show in 1987. Other cast members included Helen Martin, Alaina Reed-Hall and Curtis Baldwin. <\/p>\n

\n\tWilliams appeared in 22 episodes of \u201cSanford and Son\u201d as Officer \u201cSmitty\u201d Smith. The character was part of a duo with Howard Platt\u2019s Officer \u201cHoppy\u201d Hopkins. The pair had a recurring bit where Hopkins would lead by outlining a case with complicated police jargon, and it would be up to Smith to spell it all out again in layman\u2019s terms. <\/p>\n

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\n\tIn a recent interview with WKYC, Williams explained how the Smitty and Hoppy gag came to be: \u201cWe did it in one time in rehearsal and the producers thought it was funny. We did it in the first or second episode and it clicked. Some days, we would come to rehearsal and they didn\u2019t have anything solid. [The producers would then say,] \u2018Go out, take a break for two hours, and bring us something back.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWilliams\u2019 other TV credits include \u201cOn the Rocks,\u201d \u201cThe Waltons,\u201d \u201cPrivate Benjamin\u201d and \u201cThe Sinbad Show.\u201d His most recent TV role was on CBS\u2019 \u201cMatlock\u201d remake. On the film side, Williams appeared in \u201cHardcore,\u201d \u201cThe Rookie,\u201d \u201cPercy & Thunder,\u201d \u201cGuess Who\u201d and \u201cFlight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Hal Williams, who starred in ‘227’ and was a series regular on ‘Sanford and Son,’ has died. He was 91<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4291,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[3476],"class_list":["post-4292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tv","tag-sanford-and-son"],"yoast_head":"\nHal Williams, \u2018227\u2019 Star and \u2018Sanford and Son\u2019 Regular, Dies at 91 - Relocation Observer<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4292\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Hal Williams, \u2018227\u2019 Star and \u2018Sanford and Son\u2019 Regular, Dies at 91 - Relocation Observer\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hal Williams, who starred in '227' and was a series regular on 'Sanford and Son,' has died. 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