Scoey Mitchell, the trailblazing stand-up comedian who starred on the short-lived sitcom version of Neil Simon‘s Barefoot in the Park, has died. He was 92.
Mitchell died Saturday of kidney failure at a long-term health care facility in Torrance, California, his brother, jazz pianist Billy Mitchell, told The Hollywood Reporter.
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Mitchell (often billed as Scoey Mitchlll) also recurred in 1974-76 as an employee of the wrecking company owned by David Groh’s character on CBS’ Rhoda and played Richard Pryor’s father in the comedian’s semi-autobiographical Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (1986).
Mitchell had performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Tonight Show and The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and was a regular on the ABC sketch comedy program What’s It All About, World? when he was cast on ABC’s Barefoot in the Park as Paul Bratter, a newlywed lawyer who lives with his wife, Corie (Tracy Reed), in a Manhattan apartment.
Directed by Tony winner Mike Nichols and starring Robert Redford and Elizabeth Ashley, Barefoot in the Park began on Broadway in 1963 and ran for more than 1,500 performances, then was adapted into a hit 1967 Paramount film that featured Redford alongside Jane Fonda.
The Barefoot in the Park series was the first American sitcom since CBS’ Amos ’n’ Andy in the early 1950s to have a predominantly Black cast. It debuted on Thursday night after the veteran comedy Bewitched and before another new Simon adaptation, The Odd Couple, but aired just 12 episodes before being canceled. Behind the scenes, Mitchell clashed with ABC executive Douglas S. Cramer.
Born on March 12, 1930, in Newburgh, New York, Roscoe Mitchell Jr. started out as a nightclub comedian. For one joke, he talked about mowing the lawn outside his new house when a white man complimented his work and asked how much he was getting paid. He said, “I get to sleep with the lady inside.”
He joined the Smothers Brothers show for its second season in 1967, and in one bit, he and Tommy Smothers took a “step toward breaking down the barriers between the races” and kissed each other on the lips.
Mitchell showed up on the Hollywood Squares, was a guest host on The Joey Bishop Show and showed up on The Carol Burnett Show, The Mothers-In-Law, Here Come the Brides and That Girl before landing on Barefoot in the Park.
After that, he hosted his own variety special in 1972; appeared on other game shows like Match Game, Password and Tattletales (with his then-wife, Claire Thomas) and on episodes of Police Story, Lou Grant and Taxi; and wrote, directed and produced for the short-lived NBC sitcoms Me & Mrs. C and 13 East while being mentored by Brandon Tartikoff.
“He sacrificed much in the struggle to get Blacks behind the camera, into production and into positions that are taken for granted today,” his brother said. “It’s important to remember those few that opened the doors for so many.”
More recently, he collected and refurbished classic cars. Survivors also include his sister, Mary.
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