"BANG, BANG, BANG, BANG"
"You have to coooooooordinate"
Those are just a couple of the famous lines that fans worldwide remember about legendary actor John Witherspoon. It was confirmed by his family today that the funnyman died on Tuesday, October 29, 2019. He was 77.
"It is with deep sadness we have to tweet this," posts the family of Witherspoon on Instagram. "But our husband & father John Witherspoon has passed away. He was a Legend in the entertainment industry, and a father figure to all who watched him over the years. We love you “POPS” always & forever. We are all in shock, please give us a minute for a moment in privacy and we will celebrate his life and his work together. John used to say ‘I’m no big deal’, but he was huge deal to us.- The Witherspoon Family"
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Witherspoon is perhaps best known for his role in the Friday movies and for voicing Robert Jebediah "Grandad" Freeman in The Boondocks. Witherspoon has acted in several movies and television shows throughout his long career, such as Hollywood Shuffle, Boomerang, Vampire In Brooklyn, I'm Gonna Get You Sucka, House Party, I Got the Hook-Up, Soul Plane, Little Man, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Wayans Brothers, Living Single, The Tracy Morgan Show, Black Jesus, Black Dynamite...the list goes on and on.
He always played a memorable character in anything he was in. I mean, just looking at him, you know you had to laugh.
Born John "Weatherspoon" in Detroit, Michigan, John found laughter in just about anything, including how he grew up in a family of 11 brothers and sisters. “My mother made me wear two left boots to school when I was in 5th grade,” explains John. “You never forget that when you’re growing up. That’s why I work so hard now.”
Her later changed his name to "Witherspoon" legally. And many people don't know this, but Witherspoon used to work as a...
... model (for real). During the 1960s and 1970s, Witherspoon began to take a liking towards comedy. During that time he began his stand-up comedy career. As a result, he had many friends in the business, including Tim Reid (while he was working on WKRP in Cincinnati and The Richard Pryor Show), Robin Williams (also on The Richard Pryor Show), Jay Leno, and David Letterman.
Yet, even with all the success, one thing he loved more, was family. That was proven by his marriage to his wife Angela of 31 years.
“I know what’s going to push her buttons, and she knows what’s going to push my buttons. It’s very simple; don’t push those buttons," Witherspoon said in response to being asked his secret to a long marriage. "You can move around in different ways to get a point across. A person has got to have their own agenda if you gonna be married a long time. She has to have things to do without you, and you have things to do without her. My wife and I have to have that situation because I’m on the road all the time doing stand-up comedy.”
"We have two kids," John continued. "My wife will get up and go to France. I might go there for a week, but she’ll spend three weeks, a month. It’s fine with me, because I get bored after about a week. And the time we do spend together is a fun, laughing, quality time. You need to have your own agenda if you want longevity with your person. And if you don’t want them to follow you around, don’t follow them around everywhere they go. That’s not good."
