The hip and irreverent Flip Wilson, who got more mileage out of wearing a dress than any entertainer since Milton Berle, made television history as the first black to headline a hit variety show. At its height, "The Flip Wilson Show" (NBC, 1970-1974) was one of TV's hottest hours, No. 2 in the Nielsen ratings its first two seasons, and enabled its star to walk away a very wealthy man after only four seasons. Debuting not long after the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr and Robert Kennedy, the show cut across racial lines, clicking with people of all backgrounds. Audiences loved the musical guests--the Jackson Five, James Brown, Louis Armstrong and Lena Horne, for example--but the real draw was Wilson's comedy characters. Vamped out as the outrageous, miniskirted Geraldine, Wilson delivered lines that entered the nation's vocabulary like, "The devil made me do it!" and "What you see is what you get!" The Reverend LeRoy of the Church of What's Happening Now and Herbie, the Good Time ice cream man, were two of his other popular creations.Wilson surprised a lot of people by quitting the variety show, but as a child of poverty who had lived in five different foster homes, he decided to put his family before his career. He had made enough money to live off the interest, so when he was granted custody of his four children from the second of his two failed marriages, he retired to his Malibu home to watch them grow up and really be there for them. Wilson stayed in the public eye, appearing on talk and variety shows and hosting his own specials. An NBC revival of "People Are Funny" (1984) featured him in Art Linkletter's old role, and the short-lived sitcom "Charlie and Company" (CBS, 1985-86) soured him on "... the whole skullduggery of show biz and all the inside politics." During the 90s, he has interrupted his life of leisure to portray God in "Zora Is My Name!" (PBS' "American Playhouse", 1990), reprise Geraldine on ABC's "The Jaleel White Special" (1992) and play himself on both "Living Single" (Fox, 1993) and "The Drew Carey Show" (ABC, 1996).
Profession(s):
Actor, comedian, comedy writer, producer, bell-hop
Sometimes Credited As:
Clerow Wilson
Emmy Outstanding Writing Achievement in Variety or Music "The Flip Wilson Show" (with Lena Horne and Tony Randall) 1970 - 1971
Emmy Outstanding Variety Series-Musical "The Flip Wilson Show" 1970 - 1971
Golden Globe Award Best Actor in a Television Series (Comedy or Musical) "The Flip Wilson Show" 1970
Grammy Best Comedy Recording "The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress" 1970
1997 Reruns of "The Flip Wilson Show" debuted on Nick at Nite and then moved to sister channel Nick at Nite's TV Land
1996 Made another appearance as himself in ABC's "The Drew Carey Show"
1993 Appeared as himself on Fox's "Living Single"
1990 Portrayed God in "Zora Is My Name!", a PBS "American Playhouse" drama about African-American writer, oral historian and folklorist Zora Neal Hurston
1984 Hosted NBC's short-lived "People Are Funny", an updated version of the 1950s series hosted by Art Linkletter
1981 Dropped as commercial spokesman for 7-Up when he was arrested for possession of a small amount of cocaine
1976 Played The Fox in CBS's musical adaptation of "Pinocchio"
1974 Feature debut as Reverend in "Uptown Saturday Night"
1973 Served as executive producer of NBC's "The Helen Reddy Show"
1969 Rocketed to national attention with a smash hit television comedy/variety special on NBC in September
1950 - 1954 Served in US Air Force; gained enough confidence from performances before fellow servicemen to consider show business as a career; earned nickname 'Flip' for his irreverent humor
1942 Brought the house down as last minute replacement for the little girl cast as Clara Barton in Jersey City school play when he was 9 years old (date approximate)
Raised in foster homes
While working as a bell-hop at a San Francisco hotel, convinced manager to let him play a drunk during the wardrobe changes of the hotel's main act
Series of one-nighters eventually led to New York's Apollo and prime engagements in Miami Beach and Las Vegas
During the 1960s became a popular guest on several top shows, most notably NBC's "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In"
Carved a niche for himself in comedic television history as the host of "The Flip Wilson Show"
Hosted series of specials on NBC
Starred as Charlie Richmond in the CBS sitcom "Charlie & Company" opposite Gladys Knight; Jaleel White in his pre-Urkel days played Charlie's 9-year old son
