lawanda page played aunt esther on sanford and son.
who played aunt esther on sanford and son?
lawanda page
on "sanford and son", esther anderson ("aunt esther") was the sister of fred sanford's late wife elizabeth. page had been performing her comedy routine in nightclubs in st. louis and then los angeles for several years, but had planned to leave show business to move back to st. louis to take care of her ailing mother. when redd foxx was offered a sitcom in los angeles, he brought his childhood friend page to the attention to one of the show's producers, who was already familiar with page and her act. foxx subsequently asked page to read for the role of aunt esther. she was offered the role after she auditioned. however, prior to taping, producers became concerned when page, whose experience was limited primarily to nightclub stages, seemed to have difficulty working in a sitcom format. eventually, one of "sanford and son"s producers told foxx that page would need to be fired and that another actor would need to be cast before the show could begin taping. foxx responded by insisting that page keep the part, even threatening to walk away from the show if page were fired. the producers relented, and page's aunt esther went on to become one of the most popular tv sitcom characters of the 1970s.
lawanda page
despite their constant arguments, some episodes reveal that esther and fred were capable of kindness towards each other, such as when fred helped her adopt a child. in one episode, fred gave esther $100 he won gambling to help her church, leaving him 35 cents.





















































esther's long-suffering but loving alcoholic husband woodrow (played by raymond allen) appeared infrequently later in the series. woodrow was constantly drunk and somewhat henpecked. he eventually became sober so he and esther could adopt a young orphan, daniel (eric laneuville) in "aunt esther meets her son".
esther anderson (sanford and son)