Godspeed Lynn Hamilton

Lynn Hamilton, who played Fred Sanford's girlfriend Donna on Sanford and Son and the Waltons' neighbour Verdie on The Waltons, died on June 19 2025 at the age of 95.

Lynn Hamilton was born on April 12 1930 in Yazoo City, Mississippi. She was only four years old when her family moved to Chicago. She attended Bloom High School in Chicago Heights. She studied acting at the Goodman School of Drama Theatre in Chicago. She gained more experience in acting with a South Side theatre in Chicago. 

She moved to New York City in 1956.  In the late Fifties, She appeared on Broadway in Only in America, The Cool World, and Face of a Hero. She made her film debut in a bit part in Shadows (1958), which marked the directorial debut of John Cassavetes. She also appeared in the short "The New Girl" (1960).

Lynn Hamilton spent three years with the New York Shakespeare Film Festival. She was also a part of President John F. Kennedy's cultural exchange program, in which she toured with the plays The Miracle Worker and The Skin of Our Teeth. She appeared on Broadway in Tambourines to Glory in 1963. In 1966 she became part of the Seattle Repertory Theatre. In the late Sixties, she auditioned for a role in Funny Girl (1968). While she didn't get the part, she decided to stay in Los Angeles. She appeared in the movie The Learning Tree (1969). In 1969 she made her television debut in a guest appearance on the show Room 222. In the late Sixties, she also guest starred on the shows Then Came Bronson, Mannix, Gunsmoke, The Bill Cosby Show, Insight, and The Psychiatrist.

It was in the Seventies that Lynn Hamilton played what may be her two best known roles. She made her first appearance on Sanford and Son early in its first season, laying a landlady from whom Lamont Sanford briefly rents a bachelor pad. The producers were so impressed with Lynn Hamilton that when they decided to give Fred Sanford a girlfriend, they cast her. She first appeared in the role of Donna Harris on Sanford and Son in its tenth episode. She appeared until the show ended its run. It was in the first season of The Waltons, while she was still appearing on Sanford and Son, that she first appeared in the recurring role of Verdie Grant, a widowed neighbour and close friend of the Walton family.  She played Verdie until the show ended its run in 1981, and then appeared in two of the reunion movies. 

During the Seventies, Lynn Hamilton appeared in the mini-series Roots: The Next Generation. She guest starred on the shows Longstreet, Hawaii Five-O, Ironside, Ghost Story, Barnaby Jones, The Young and the Restless, Good Times, Starsky and Hutch, and The Rockford Files. She appeared in the movies Brother John (1971), The Seven Minutes (1971), Buck and the Preacher (1972), Lady Sings the Blues (1972), Hangup (1974), and Leadbelly (1976). 

In the late Eighties, Lynn Hamilton began a two year run appearing in a regular role on the soap opera Generations. She also had a recurring role on the soap opera Rituals and the sitcom 227. She guest starred on the shows The Powers of Matthew Starr; Knight Rider; Insight; Quincy, M.E.; ABC Afternoon Specials; Riptide; Highway to Heaven; Webster; Still the Beaver; Days of Our Lives; Amen; Hunter; and The Golden Girls. She appeared in the movie Legal Eagles (1986).

In the Nineties she continued to appear on Generations. She appeared in a lead role in the soap opera Dangerous Women and had a recurring roles on Sunset Beach and The Practice. She guest starred on the shows Sister, Sister; Murphy Brown; Sisters; Life's Work; Dangerous Minds; Moesha; and Port Charles. She appeared in the movie The Vanishing (1993). 

In the Naughts she continued to appear on The Practice. She guest starred on the shows NYPD Blue, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Judging Amy, and Cold Case. She made her last appearance on screen in Baby's Breath (2003).

Lynn Hamilton was a very talented actress, which can be seen in her two famous roles, two roles that she played concurrently. Donna Harris on Sanford and Son was strong, independent, and no-nonsense, often calling Fred on some of his wackier behaviour. Verdi on The Waltons was also a strong woman, although she was also fiercely proud and somewhat distrustful of others beyond family and close friends (and sometimes she can distrust them as well). Lynn Hamilton was particularly good at paying strong women. In the Gunsmoke episode "The Sisters" she played Mother Tabitha, the caring but firm head of two other nuns. Not all of Lynn Hamilton's characters were necessarily nice. She appeared in the Barnaby Jones episode "Sunday: Doomsday" she played the wife of a man that Barnaby had sent to prison. She is downright hateful towards Barnaby, blaming him for how her life went wrong  In her guest appearance in The Rockford Files episode "The Hammer of C Block" she played a character who was a bit more pleasant, but still a far cry from Donna or Verdi. She played a former prostitute, now married to a doctor, who's fearful of her past being revealed. Lynn Hamilton had an enormous amount of talent and was even a bit of a pioneer, paving the way for future Black actresses.