John Witherspoon

John Witherspoon was an American stand-up comedian and actor who appeared in numerous comedy films and TV shows. Witherspoon was one of 11 children, pursuing music as a young man with his brother William, who would go on to success as a songwriter and producer at Motown.

Witherspoon made his start as a stand-up in the early '70s, soon appearing in small parts in popular sitcoms like "Good Times" and "What's Happening!!" as well as dramatic shows like the crime drama "Barnaby Jones" and the comic book hit "The Incredible Hulk."

In the late '80s Witherspoon made inroads with many of the African-American members of Hollywood, appearing in Robert Townsend's 1987 comedy "Hollywood Shuffle," Keenen Ivory Wayans's comedy "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" in 1988, and Reginald Hudlin's teen comedy "House Party" in 1990.

In 1995, Witherspoon appeared as the irritable Mr. Jones in the hit comedy "Friday" with Ice Cube and returned in both sequels. In 1995 he was cast as John 'Pops' Williams in the WB sitcom "The Wayans Brothers," which lasted for five seasons.

Witherspoon played the part of Spoon on NBC's comedy "The Tracy Morgan Show" in 2003. In 2005 he began lending his voice to the character Robert 'Granddad' Freeman on the animated program "The Boondocks."

Witherspoon was also a close friend of talk show host David Letterman, who is the godfather to his son. In 2011, Witherspoon starred in the comedy "A Thousand Words" with comedy great Eddie Murphy.

John Witherspoon died on October 29, 2019 at the age of 77.