Hal Williams, who played a repo man (who may or may not have had a resemblance to Billy Dee Williams and Sidney Poitier!) on the first episode of Good Times, is celebrating his 87th birthday today!

Born Halroy Candis Williams in Columbus, Ohio, the actor started his career in local community theater. He worked for a time as a postal worker and a corrections officer, then moved in the late 1960s to Los Angeles to pursue acting; to make ends meet while he went on auditions, he worked with the California Youth Authority.

In 1970s, Williams was able to devote his time to acting full time, when he landed roles in three TV productions: a TV movie called Swing Out, Sweet Land, starring John Wayne, and two series, Dan August and That Girl. Williams went on to play Officer “Smitty” Smith on the Sanford and Son TV series, Harley Foster on The Waltons, Sgt. Ted Ross on the film Private Benjamin (1980) and the subsequent TV series based on the movie, and Lester Jenkins on 227.

In addition to his appearance on the first Good Times episode, Williams was seen in two additional episodes of the show; in Florida Goes to School, which aired in Season 2, Williams played pinball with James and warned him about the risks involved in his wife trying to better herself. And in the Season 6 episode J.J. the Teacher, Williams played the father of Earl Mitchell (Ernest Harden), an art student of J.J.’s.

As of this writing, Williams is still performing; most recently, he made two appearances on the hit television series Matlock, starring Kathy Bates. He’s showing no signs of stopping!

We extend best wishes to Mr. Williams here at Ain’t We Lucky We Got ‘Em!