John "Pops" Witherspoon (born John Weatherspoon; January 27, 1942 – October 29, 2019) was an American actor and comedian who performed in various television shows and films. Pops was best known for his role as Willie Jones for the Friday series, and also starred in films such as Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Boomerang (1992) and Vampire in Brooklyn (1995). Pops made appearances on television shows such as The Wayans Bros. (1995–99), The Tracy Morgan Show (2003), Barnaby Jones (1973), The Boondocks (2005–2014), The Five Heartbeats (1991) and Black Jesus (2014). He wrote a film, From the Old School, in which he played an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club. John Weatherspoon was born on January 27, 1942, in Detroit, Michigan. He later changed his last name to "Witherspoon". Witherspoon was one of 11 siblings. His elder brother, William, became a songwriter for Motown, with whom he penned the lyrics of the 1966 hit single "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted". Another sibling, Cato, was a director of the PBS-TV Network/CH56 in Detroit for almost four decades. Their sister, Gertrude Stacks, is a pastor in Shalom Fellowship International church in Detroit. Witherspoon had a passion for music and learned to play the trumpet and French horn. In 1988, Witherspoon married Angela Robinson. They have two children, John David ("J.D.") and Alexander. J.D. is known for making skits and gameplay videos on YouTube, and currently hosts the mobile game show Confetti on Facebook Watch. David Letterman is the godfather to Witherspoon's two sons. Witherspoon died at his home in Sherman Oaks, California on October 29, 2019. No cause of death is released at this time. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gena-heelz/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/gena-heelz/support
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