Success did not come easily. Mr. Foxx spent a considerable amount of time working as a dishwasher or sign painter in order to eat. For some years, show business dates alternated with brief jail sentences for such offenses as stealing a bottle of milk and sleeping in a hallway.

In Harlem Mr. Foxx got the nickname "Red" because of his hair color and light skin, and he later added another "d." Sometimes he was called "Chicago Red" to differentiate him from his friend, "Detroit Red," the young Malcolm X.

With the first of his party records, in 1956, Mr. Foxx began to be heard by larger audiences, eventually selling 20 million records. He was a bridge between a decades-old burlesque-show tradition of scatological party humor and a younger generation of comics and social satirists from Lenny Bruce to Andrew Dice Clay.

It was not until the late 1960's that Mr. Foxx moved from black clubs to television and to clubs in Las Vegas, where he lived for many years.

Mr. Foxx repeated his role as Fred Sanford in a series that ran in 1980 and 81. He starred in another comedy show in 1986, but nothing ever achieved the popularity of his first series, which also starred Demond Wilson as his son, Lamont.

Despite his popular and financial success, Mr. Foxx often expressed bitterness about his career. He felt that he had been exploited by unscrupulous associates and victimized by racism in the entertainment industry.

"I've been cheated more than most people because I'm gullible and I'm a target," he said. "My heart is open, and I listen to people and I believe their sob stories."