Lynn Hamilton

Lynn Hamilton (born April 25, 1930) is an American retired actress whose acting debut came in 1959 in John Cassavetes' Shadows, She is best known for her recurring role as Donna Harris; Fred's girlfriend and later fiancée on the sitcom Sanford and Son (1972–1977) and as Verdie Foster on The Waltons. She also appeared on the detective series Mannix in the season 3 episode 13 as the wife of a police detective who hires Mannix to save her son. Early years Hamilton was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, to Nancy and Louis Hamilton and moved to Chicago Heights, Illinois, when she was twelve years old. She attended Bloom High School. She studied acting at Goodman Theatre. Career Hamilton began her career in community theatre in Chicago and debuted on Broadway in Only in America in 1959. She appeared in three other Broadway plays, many Off-Broadway plays and spent three years with the New York Shakespeare Festival. From 1972 to 1977, after an initial credited one-time appearance in the seventh episode of the series as a landlady, Hamilton starred as Fred Sanford's girlfriend and later fiancée Donna Harris on the television sitcom Sanford and Son. Donna was a nurse and sometimes took care of Fred. When the show returned in 1980 under a reworked title Sanford (TV series), Hamilton was not asked to return and her character was written out of the series. There are many internet claims that she was the younger sister of actress LaWanda Page, who portrayed Esther Anderson on Sanford and Son, confirmed only via LaWanda Page's obituary in the Los Angeles Times. However, they are neither related nor sisters, though they became good friends.