Flip Wilson

Flip Wilson Headshot

Comedian • Actor • Host

Birth Date: December 8, 1933

Death Date: November 25, 1998

Birth Place: Jersey City, New Jersey

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).

Credits

The Best of The Ed Sullivan Show

Self
Show
2023

Flip Wilson: The Devil Made Me Do It

Music Performer
Show
2020

An Evening at the Improv

Host
Show
2000

The Drew Carey ShowStream

Guest Star
Series
1995

227Stream

Guest Star
Series
1985

The Cheap Detective

Actor
Eddie Krowder
Show
1980

Uptown: A Tribute to the Apollo Theater

Host
Show
1980

Skatetown U.S.A.

Actor
Harvey Ross
Movie
1979

Dick Van Dyke & Company

Guest
Show
1976

Pinocchio

Actor
Fox
Movie
1976

Saturday Night LiveStream

Host
Series
1975

The Flip Wilson Special

Host
Show
1975

The Flip Wilson Special

Host
Show
1975

The Flip Wilson Special

Host
Show
1974

Flip Wilson ...Of Course

Host
Show
1974

Uptown Saturday Night

Actor
The Reverend
Movie
1974

The Six Million Dollar ManStream

Guest Star
Billy Parker /The Prime Minister
Series
1973

The Bobby Darin Show

Guest
Show
1973

Cancel My Reservation

Self
Movie
1972

The Flip Wilson ShowStream

Actor
Variety Show
1970

Love, American Style

Actor
Big Red
Series
1969

The Friars Club Roasts Johnny Carson

Guest
Show
1968

Here's LucyStream

Guest Star
Series
1968

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-InStream

Guest Star
Variety Show
1968

The Carol Burnett ShowStream

Guest
Variety Show
1967

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny CarsonStream

Guest
Talk
1962

The Ed Sullivan ShowStream

Actor
Variety Show
1948