Actress/singer Della Reese, who died at 86 in 2017, became a mainstream sensation alongside Roma Downey on the beloved fantasy TV drama Touched By An Angel (CBS, 1994-2004).
Actor/comedian Redd Foxx, who died at 68 in 1991, found fame beside Demond Wilson on TV’s groundbreaking sitcom Sanford & Son (NBC, 1972-1977).
After Sanford & Son ended and before Touched By An Angel began, Reese and Foxx briefly performed together in the short-lived half-hour comedy, The Royal Family (ABC, 1991-1992).
According to what Reese once told the Television Academy, Foxx was subjected to offensive treatment by a Royal Family producer. A form of disrespect that, along with additional inconsiderations, in Reese’s eyes, contributed to the stress, emotional and psychological trauma, and ultimate demise of Foxx.
Here’s What Happened, According To Reese
Della Reese explained the events that she believed led to Foxx’s death on the set of The Royal Family.
While filming one scene, the given producer in question requested Foxx’s participation. When the actor was nowhere to be found, the producer wondered where he was.
Reese explained that Foxx was being interviewed by the TV newsmagazine show Entertainment Tonight in an area close to the Royal Family set.
At that point, the producer walked over to where Entertainment Tonight was interviewing Foxx and asked him to partake in the Royal Family sequence that was being filmed.
Foxx ended the Entertainment Tonight interview and did what his sitcom’s producer requested. Upon learning that he was only needed to walk through the scene, without saying any lines, as Reese explained, Foxx became “livid.”
The actor/comedian became so upset, Reese said, he collapsed on the set.
Foxx was then rushed to the hospital, where, amid his family, Reese, and the show’s producer, the actor/comedian was pronounced dead.
Reese’s Wrath
Immediately after Redd Foxx’s wife was told of her husband’s demise, as Della Reese continued to explain, the Royal Family producer offered no compassion or understanding.
Instead, all he could think about was the state of the show and how they were going to make it work without Foxx.
Foxx’s wife was seated right next to Reese, who was stunned that the producers would voice such a concern right at that inappropriate moment.
Consequently, it was now Reese’s turn to become upset. As she continued to relay, the actress let loose and “went crazy” in scolding the producer, mostly in defense of and concern for Foxx’s wife.
“I went absolutely insane…on everybody,” Reese said. “I got in my car and left, and made up my mind…in the car…on my way home, that I wasn’t ever gonna do television that way again. Because if somebody treated my husband and my daughter like that [after I died], then I’d have to come back. And once I go, I don’t want to come back.”
In the End
Della Reese concluded that The Royal Family producer “never did treat [Foxx] with the respect that he should have had” and deserved. And in the end, that disrespect proved deadly.
