Sunday, February 24, 2008

Don Bexley - "Bubba"

Another of my favorite characters from the tv sitcom "Sanford and Son" was "Bubba", played by comic actor Don Bexley, a veteran comic from the black theater.

At the time I contacted him, in 1980, Mr. Bexley was living in Granada Hills, a northwestern suburb of Los Angeles. He was listed in the phone directory, so I called him, and we had a brief pleasant chat. He appreciated my interest in his career and thanked me for my comments about his "Bubba" character. I told him I'd like to have an autographed photo, but couldn't find one to send him. He asked me to send him my address and he'd send one to me.

I did write him, and he soon replied, with a letter telling me a bit about his recent activities, and also that he'd passed on my requests for photos to two other "Sanford" cast members. (I eventually wrote directly to LaWanda Page myself, and also to Whitman Mayo, but Mayo never replied). He enclosed a signed photo which included four character poses on the reverse. (This is not actually a glossy photo, but rather a semi-glossy textured page that was sent by his agent to producers, hence the lesser-quality scan.)

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