It was the most chilling moment ever to happen during the filming of Sanford and Son—and it nearly ended in tragedy.
The cast was filming a typical scene at Fred Sanford’s junkyard, with Redd Foxx delivering one of his classic heart attack bits. “This is the big one, Elizabeth!” he shouted, clutching his chest like always. The crew laughed. The cast kept acting. But this time… he wasn’t acting.
Redd Foxx had collapsed for real.
At first, no one reacted. The line between performance and reality had always been razor-thin with Foxx. But as seconds passed and he didn’t move, panic set in. According to a crew member, “We thought he was just being extra dramatic. Then he didn’t get up.”
A paramedic was rushed in from the nearby set of The Dean Martin Show. Filming stopped. The audience, unaware of the severity, still chuckled—thinking it was all part of the show. Only after an assistant director shouted, “Cut, cut, medical emergency!” did the room fall silent.
Redd Foxx had suffered a minor heart episode, not a full heart attack. He recovered quickly and was back on set within days. But the incident shook everyone.
What makes the story eerier is that Foxx had always joked about dying in a dramatic way — during The Royal Family, years later, he would actually suffer a fatal heart attack on set. Again, cast and crew thought it was a gag, because of his Sanford and Son persona.
Today, his legacy is bittersweet. His comedic brilliance often masked the toll his lifestyle took. But that collapse? It was real. It was terrifying. And it was a chilling reminder that even legends can blur the line between laughter and danger.
