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LaWanda Page

Highest Rated: 76% Friday (1995)

Lowest Rated: 76% Friday (1995)

Birthday: Oct 19, 1920

Birthplace: Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Although LaWanda Page first became known to a mainstream audience through her role as the self-righteous Aunt Esther on the hit sitcom "Sanford and Son," fans of African-American nightclub comedians and "party records" first knew her as a filthy-mouthed, libidinous stand-up comic in the tradition of Moms Mabley in the 1960s. Raised in St. Louis, where her school friends included a boy named John Elroy Sanford, Page entered show business performing a nightclub magic act. After she moved to Los Angeles, this transitioned into a brassy late-night stand-up routine that by 1960s standards was quite daring. Page's nightclub act was recorded on several LPs for the adults-only Laff Records label, which also released several LPs by Page's old childhood friend Sanford, now trading in an even raunchier line of stand-up comedy under the name Redd Foxx. Page had left show business and moved back home in the early '70s when Foxx persuaded her to join his new sitcom "Sanford and Son" as his antagonistic sister-in-law; although she had never acted before, the heated banter between Foxx and Page quickly became many fans' favorite part of the show. After retiring the Aunt Esther character following the short-lived 1981 spinoff "Sanford," Page appeared in a handful of TV shows and films playing slight variations on her by now well-established sassy old woman persona, including Ice Cube's "Friday" and a recurring role on Martin Lawrence's popular early 1990s sitcom "Martin."

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Highest rated movies

76% 91% Friday
Watchlist
Who Killed the Centerfold Model?
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Filmography

Movies

Credit
76% 91% Friday Old Lady (Character) $27.4M 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet Who Killed the Centerfold Model? Erna (Character) - 1977

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sanford and Son Aunt Esther Anderson (Character) 1973-1977 2024
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Parent 'Hood Unknown (Guest Star) 1995
No Score Yet 93% Martin Unknown (Guest Star) 1992-1993
No Score Yet No Score Yet 227 Unknown (Guest Star) 1986
No Score Yet 78% Amazing Stories Unknown (Character) 1985
No Score Yet No Score Yet 1st & Ten Earlene's Mother (Guest Star) 1985
No Score Yet No Score Yet Starsky and Hutch Unknown (Guest Star) 1977 1979
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sanford Arms Aunt Esther Anderson (Character) 1977
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Love Boat Unknown (Guest Star) 1977