Theodore R. Wilson; Actor in Many TV Comedies, Movies

Theodore R. Wilson, one of the busiest TV and film actors in Los Angeles and a regular on several situation comedy series including “That’s My Mama,” has died of a stroke at age 47.

Wilson, who appears in the new Mel Brooks film “Life Stinks,” died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, said his former wife, Naomi Pringle. He had undergone open-heart surgery several years ago, she said.

Wilson played Earl Chambers, the postman on the ethnic comedy “That’s My Mama.” He also starred as Phil Wheeler, the optimist who purchased Fred Sanford’s old junkyard after “Sanford and Son” went off the air. His character tried to turn that run-down property into a hotel on the 1977 sequel, “The Sanford Arms.” Wilson’s other TV appearances included “Crazy Like a Fox,” “Good Times,” “The Redd Foxx Show,” “Roll Out” and “You Can’t Take It With You.”

His motion picture appearances were in “That’s My Life,” “A Fine Mess,” “The River Niger,” “Carny,” “The Hunter,” the upcoming “Blood In, Blood Out” and “The Vagrant,” the latter another new Brooks film.

He also made guest appearances on the television series “Quantum Leap,” “L.A. Law” and “Gabriel’s Fire.”

Wilson began acting with New York’s Negro Ensemble Company. He moved to the Arena Stage Repertory Company in Washington before coming to Los Angeles in 1970.

He wrote and directed “The Book of the Crazy African,” a collection of songs, dances and recitations he staged in Los Angeles in 1986.

His survivors include two sons and a daughter.