Flip Wilson

Acting

Flip Wilson

Born — Died

1933-12-08 — 1998-11-25

Place of birth

Jersey City, New Jersey, U.S.

Known for

Acting

Credits

45 titles

Clerow "Flip" Wilson Jr. (December 8, 1933 – November 25, 1998) was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series The Flip Wilson Show, and introduced viewers to his recurring character Geraldine. The series earned Wilson a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards, and it was the second highest-rated show on network television for a time.

Known for

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

Saturday Night Live poster
6.9

A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest.

Saturday Night Live

1975

The Mike Douglas Show poster
5.8

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

The Love Boat poster
6.2

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.

The Love Boat

1977

The Drew Carey Show poster
6.5

Drew is an assistant director of personnel in a Cleveland department store and he has been stuck there for ten years. Other than fighting with co-worker Mimi, his hobbies include drinking beer and not being able to get dates. To make a few extra bucks he has a micro-brewery going in his garage with his buddies.

The Drew Carey Show

1995

Love, American Style poster
6.2

An anthology comedy series featuring a line up of different celebrity guest stars appearing in anywhere from one, two, three, and four short stories or vignettes within an hour about versions of love and romance.

Love, American Style

1969

Film credits

1970s · 16 titles

Joys poster
6.0

Over fifty of the greatest living comedians are called to a party at Bob Hope's house, where each of them is systematically killed (and their bodies thrown in Hope's pool!). Hope and the rapidly shrinking cast try to discover who is the mysterious killer known only as "Joys."

Joys

1976

Leif poster
NR

Teen idol Leif Garrett headlines this variety music, dance and comedy sketch special with guest stars Bob Hope, Marie Osmond, Brooke Shields and Japanese pop duo Pink Lady.

Leif

1979

Pinocchio poster
7.4

This musical adaptation of Pinocchio from 1976 features the incomparable talents of Danny Kaye, Sandy Duncan, Flip Wilson, and Clive Revill. Framed by the story of a young theater girl's desire to study and work apart from her father, the story of Pinocchio is presented as a subplay with the young girl as Pinocchio (Sandy Duncan) and her father as Geppetto (Danny Kaye). The famous Carlo Collodi story of a lonely woodcutter whose marionette comes to life is presented faithfully and engagingly.

Pinocchio

1976

Uptown Saturday Night poster
6.2

Two blue-collar buddies search the underworld for a winning lottery ticket lost in a nightclub holdup.

Uptown Saturday Night

1974

Skatetown, U.S.A. poster
5.2

A street-gang leader challenges a handsome young skater in a championship contest at the local roller-disco rink.

Skatetown, U.S.A.

1979

US Against the World poster
NR

This NBC Special from 1977 pitted celebrities from the worlds of film and TV in the United States against stars from the U.K. and the rest of the World. Three teams of five men and three women representing their native land, competed in a series of nine events during this fast paced and exciting 2 hour TV Special. Sporting events included bowling, darts, rowing, swimming and running relays and soccer goal kicking.

US Against the World

1977

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh poster
5.9

The Pittsburgh basketball team is hopeless. Maybe with the aid of an astrologer, and some new astrologically compatible players, they can become winners.

The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh

1979

No artwork available
NR

A comedy variety special with an ecological twist.

Keep U.S. Beautiful

1973

Clerow Wilson's Great Escape poster
10.0

Clerow is taken away from his sister's home by a social worker and placed into servitude with an evil foster family “where they put water in the milk and milk in the water.” Clerow eventually escapes from this family and is reunited with his sister in a new housing project.

Clerow Wilson's Great Escape

1974

Bing Crosby: Cooling It poster
NR

Entertainment variety special with Bing and special guests Dean Martin, Bernadette Peters, and Flip Wilson.

Bing Crosby: Cooling It

1970

Cancel My Reservation poster
5.6

Bob Hope is a stressed out talk show host who is sent on a vacation to Arizona on doctor's orders and has to play Sherlock Holmes with his wife, the lovely Eva Marie Saint, to solve a series of murders that has Bob as the prime suspect.

Cancel My Reservation

1972

A Walking Tour of Sesame Street poster
NR

Sesame Street celebrated its 10th anniversary in the spring of 1979 with a half-hour PBS special hosted by James Earl Jones titled A Walking Tour of Sesame Street. The special aired on individual PBS stations at various times between March and May 1979. (Muppet Wiki)

A Walking Tour of Sesame Street

1979

The 5th Dimension Special: An Odyssey in the Cosmic Universe of Peter Max poster
6.0

Artist Peter Max pulls the strings as the pop group The Fifth Dimension travels through a technicolor land inhabited by wacky people.

The 5th Dimension Special: An Odyssey in the Cosmic Universe of Peter Max

1970

Clerow Wilson and the Miracle of P.S. 14 poster
7.0

Clerow Wilson and his friends attempt to put on a play to raise money for their band uniforms.

Clerow Wilson and the Miracle of P.S. 14

1972

Flip Wilson... Of Course poster
NR

Flip Wilson's stand-up special.

Flip Wilson... Of Course

1974

The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians poster
6.0

The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians is a 1970 American animated television special produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. After the Christmas special Frosty the Snowman (1969), it was Rankin/Bass' second hand-drawn animated work to be outsourced to Osamu Tezuka's Mushi Production in Tokyo, Japan. The show aired on ABC on April 7, 1970 before the airing of that year's Oscars. It was a tribute to early vaudeville, and featured animated reworkings of various famous comedians' acts.

The Mad, Mad, Mad Comedians

1970

Series credits

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson poster
7.6

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson is a talk show hosted by Johnny Carson under The Tonight Show franchise from 1962 to 1992. It originally aired during late-night. For its first ten years, Carson's Tonight Show was based in New York City with occasional trips to Burbank, California; in May 1972, the show moved permanently to Burbank, California. In 2002, The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson was ranked #12 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson

1962

Saturday Night Live poster
6.9

A late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels. The show's comedy sketches, which parody contemporary culture and politics, are performed by a large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers an opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, and features performances by a musical guest.

Saturday Night Live

1975

The Mike Douglas Show poster
5.8

The Mike Douglas Show is an American daytime television talk show hosted by Mike Douglas that originally aired only in the Cleveland area during much of its first two years on the air. It then went into syndication in 1963 and remained on television until 1982. It was distributed by Westinghouse Broadcasting and for much of its run, originated from studios of two of the company's TV stations in Cleveland and Philadelphia.

The Mike Douglas Show

1961

The Love Boat poster
6.2

Passengers who search for romantic nights aboard a beautiful ship travelling to tropical or mysterious countries, decide to pass their vacation aboard the "Love Boat", where Gopher, Dr. Bricker, Isaac, Julie, and Captain Stubing try their best to please them, and sometimes help them fall in love. Things are not always so easy, but in the end, love wins.

The Love Boat

1977

The Drew Carey Show poster
6.5

Drew is an assistant director of personnel in a Cleveland department store and he has been stuck there for ten years. Other than fighting with co-worker Mimi, his hobbies include drinking beer and not being able to get dates. To make a few extra bucks he has a micro-brewery going in his garage with his buddies.

The Drew Carey Show

1995

Love, American Style poster
6.2

An anthology comedy series featuring a line up of different celebrity guest stars appearing in anywhere from one, two, three, and four short stories or vignettes within an hour about versions of love and romance.

Love, American Style

1969

American Playhouse poster
6.6

American Playhouse is an anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service in the United States.

American Playhouse

1982

The Six Million Dollar Man poster
7.3

Follow the adventures of Steve Austin, cybernetically enhanced astronaut turned secret agent, employed by the OSI, under the command of Oscar Goldman and supervised by the scientist who created his cybernetics, Rudy Wells. Steve uses the superior strength and speed provided by his bionic arm and legs, and the enhanced vision provided by his artificial eye, to fight enemy agents, aliens, mad scientists, and a wide variety of other villains.

The Six Million Dollar Man

1974

The Carol Burnett Show poster
7.7

The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."

The Carol Burnett Show

1967

The Carol Burnett Show poster
7.7

The Carol Burnett Show is an American variety/sketch comedy television show starring Carol Burnett, Harvey Korman, Vicki Lawrence, Lyle Waggoner, and Tim Conway. It originally ran on CBS from September 11, 1967, to March 29, 1978, for 278 episodes and originated from CBS Television City's Studio 33. The series won 25 prime time Emmy Awards, was ranked No. 16 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time in 2002 and in 2007 was listed as one of Time magazine's "100 Best TV Shows of All Time."

The Carol Burnett Show

1967

The Ed Sullivan Show poster
6.8

The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the CBS Sunday Night Movie, which ran only one season and was eventually replaced by other shows. In 2002, The Ed Sullivan Show was ranked #15 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

The Ed Sullivan Show

1948

Living Single poster
8.0

Living Single is an American television sitcom that aired for five seasons on the Fox network from August 22, 1993, to January 1, 1998. The show centered on the lives of six friends who share personal and professional experiences while living in a Brooklyn brownstone. Throughout its run, Living Single became one of the most popular African-American sitcoms of its era, ranking among the top five in African-American ratings in all five seasons. The series was produced by Yvette Lee Bowser's company, Sister Lee, in association with Warner Bros. Television. In contrast to the popularity of NBC's "Must See TV" on Thursday nights in the 1990s, many African American and Latino viewers flocked to Fox's Thursday night line-up of Martin, Living Single, and New York Undercover. In fact, these were the three highest-rated series among black households for the 1996–1997 season.

Living Single

1993

Here's Lucy poster
6.7

Lucille Ball's third network sitcom, following I Love Lucy (1951–57) and The Lucy Show (1962–68).

Here's Lucy

1968

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In poster
6.8

An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

1968

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In poster
6.8

An American sketch comedy television program hosted by comedians Dan Rowan and Dick Martin.

Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In

1968

Kraft Music Hall poster
5.4

Kraft Music Hall is an umbrella title for several television series aired by NBC in the United States from the 1950s to the 1970s in the musical variety genre, sponsored by Kraft Foods, the producers of a well-known line of cheeses and related dairy products. Their commercials were usually announced by "The Voice of Kraft", Ed Herlihy.

Kraft Music Hall

1958

227 poster
6.8

A housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and discusses all manner of things with her neighbors.

227

1985

The Flip Wilson Show poster
5.2

The Flip Wilson Show is an hour long variety show that aired in the U.S. on NBC from September 17, 1970 to June 27, 1974. The show starred American comedian Flip Wilson; the program was one of the first American television programs starring a black person in the title role to become highly successful with a white audience. Specifically, it was the first successful network variety series starring an African American. During its first two seasons, its Nielsen ratings made it the nation's second most watched show. The show consisted of many skits over an hour. It also broke new ground in American television by using a 'Theatre-in-the-Round' stage format, with the audience seated on all sides of a circular performance area. Wilson was most famous for creating the role of Geraldine Jones, a sassy, modern woman who had a boyfriend named Killer. Flip also created the role of Reverend Leroy, who was the minister of the Church of What's Happening Now!. New parishioners were wary of coming to the church as it was hinted that Reverend Leroy was a con artist. Wilson popularized such catchphrases as "What you see is what you get", and "The devil made me do it!".

The Flip Wilson Show

1970

The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour poster
6.8

The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour is an American network television music and comedy variety show hosted by singer Glen Campbell from January 1969 through June 1972 on CBS. He was offered the show after he hosted a 1968 summer replacement for The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Campbell used "Gentle on My Mind" as the theme song of the show. The show was one of the few rural-oriented shows to survive CBS's rural purge of 1971.

The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour

1969

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts poster
5.4

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts is a NBC television special show hosted by entertainer Dean Martin from 1974 to 1984. For a series of 54 specials and shows, Martin would periodically "roast" a celebrity. These roasts were patterned after the roasts held at the New York Friars' Club in New York City. The format would have the celebrity guest seated at a banquet table, and one by one the guest of honor was affectionately chided or insulted about his career by his fellow celebrity friends. In 1973, The Dean Martin Show was declining in popularity. The final season of his variety show would be retooled into one of celebrity roasts, requiring less of Martin's involvement. For the 1973–1974 season, a new feature called “Man of the Week Celebrity Roast" was added to try to pick up the ratings. The roasts seemed to be popular among television audiences and are often marketed in post-issues as part of the official Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts and not The Dean Martin Show. After The Dean Martin Show was cancelled in 1974, NBC drew up a contract with Martin to do several specials and do more roast specials. Starting with Bob Hope in 1974, the roast was taped in California and turned out to be a hit, leading to many other roasts to follow.

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roasts

1973

The Sonny and Cher Show poster
7.1

Cher and Sonny Bono starred in this quintessentially '70's TV comedy/variety show. Sonny and Cher's hit songs featured prominently on the show, as they would often sing and perform them between short skits.

The Sonny and Cher Show

1976

Cher poster
7.0

A weekly hour-long program hosted by Cher, featuring music, comedy sketches, and a different female guest star each week, with notable guests including Bette Midler, Carol Burnett, and Tina Turner.

Cher

1975

Charlie & Co. poster
8.0

Charlie & Co. is an American sitcom that originally aired on CBS from September 18, 1985 to May 16, 1986. Created by Allan Katz, the series stars Flip Wilson and Gladys Knight. Charlie & Co. is regarded as CBS's answer to The Cosby Show, which was a ratings success for NBC at the time. Unlike The Cosby Show, which ran for eight seasons, Charlie & Co. lasted for only one.

Charlie & Co.

1985

The Bobby Darin Show poster
10.0

No synopsis available yet.

The Bobby Darin Show

1973

Van Dyke and Company poster
6.0

Short-lived variety show starring Dick Van Dyke and assorted guests. The show was best known for Dick's pantomime acting and a recurring skit about the dumbest family in the world, coincidently named "The Bright Family". Van Dyke & Co also featured appearances by the Los Angeles Mime Company.

Van Dyke and Company

1975