RANCHO MIRAGE—On July 15, actor, Halroy Candis “Hal” Williams, passed away at his southern California home in the Coachella Valley. He was 91. Williams is best known for his reoccurring role as “Smitty,” the policeman in the 70s sitcom, Sanford and Son.
Williams, who was born in Columbus, Ohio in 1938. He initially worked as a social worker, corrections officer, and as a postal worker in his younger years. In 1968, he was recently divorced, when he moved to Los Angeles to pursue an interest in acting. He told Get TV, “I gave myself three years.”
In 1972, Williams appeared in 20 episodes cast as Officer, “Smitty Smith” alongside actor Howard Platt, who played his fellow officer, “Hoppy Hopkins,” in Sanford and Son. Williams also played reoccurring role as Harley Foster on, The Waltons. As an actor, Williams balanced his reoccurring roles as he made appearances Sanford and Son, The Waltons, and for a short time, ABC’s sitcom, On the Rocks.
A New decade brought new roles as he starred in the 1980 film, and later the TV adaption of Private Benjamin, playing the character, Sgt. Ted Ross.
In 1985.played Lester Jenkin’s NBC’s sitcom, 227.
The Sinbad Show featured Hal Williams as a reoccurring guest playing the role of Rudy Bryan, the father of the main character, David Bryan, on Fox for a single season from September 1993-April 1994.
During his nearly six-decade career, Williams appeared alongside many of the greats of his time alongside Clint Eastwood in The Rookie, with James Earl Joses, Billy Dee Willimas, and Courtney B. Vance in, Percy and Thunder.
He played opposite of; George C. Scott in Hardcore, Ashton Kutcher, Bernie Mac, and Zoe Saldaña in Guess Who, and played Denzel Washington’s father in Flight.
Hal Williams also earned guest appearances on many popular television series including; The Dick Van Dyke Show, Gunsmoke, Good Times, Knots Landing, Night Court, Webster, Magnum P.I., Quincy Jones M.E., Hill Street Blues, Night Court, That Girl, Cannon, Policewoman, Suddenly Susan, Parks and Recreation, Matlock, Parks and Recreation, Moesha, and A Black Lady Sketch Show.
Williams once told Columbus Monthly. “I’ve prided myself on choosing a profession where you don’t have to stop working. You just get older as you work.”
In the community, Mr. Williams was a long-time board member of the Los Angeles Actors’ Theater, founded by Ralph White.
In 1991, Williams established the Mark K.A. Williams Memorial Scholarship Foundation in memory of his son, Mark, who was a broadcasting major who died on a camping trip in the Angeles National Forest in 1977.
Williams created non-profit is based in Palm Desert California to assist students of color with interest in broadcasting and communications to fulfill their collegiate dreams.
Mark Williams was one of three children he shared with his first wife. He is survived by two children, three grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren.
