Alzenia Lynn Hamilton was an American actress. She was born on April 25, 1930, to Nancy and Louis Hamilton in Yazoo City, Mississippi. When she was twelve years old, her family moved to Chicago Heights, Illinois. Hamilton attended Bloom High School in Chicago Heights and later studied at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.
After completing her education, Hamilton began her career in community theatre in Chicago. She made her Broadway debut in Only in America in 1959. She also appeared in other Broadway productions and spent several years with the New York Shakespeare Festival.
Hamilton’s most popular role came in the comedy series Sanford and Son, where she played Donna Harris, Fred Sanford’s (Redd Foxx) girlfriend. In the show, she was portrayed as a nurse who occasionally took care of Fred. Controversy arose online in later years with false claims that Hamilton was the younger sister of actress LaWanda Page, who played Esther Anderson on the same show. These claims were debunked; they were close friends but not siblings. Series co-star Demond Wilson confirmed this in 2016.
Amaya Hamilton (Wikipedia)
After Sanford and Son ended in 1977, a spin-off series titled Sanford aired from 1980 to 1981. However, Hamilton was not asked to return, and her character was written out of the show.
Hamilton also had a recurring role as Verdie Grant Foster on The Waltons, playing a neighbor of the Walton family. She appeared on the show from 1973 to 1981. Her other television credits included Good Times, 227, Dangerous Women, Generations, Port Charles, The Golden Girls, Gunsmoke, and Roots: The Next Generations.
She also made appearances in Barnaby Jones, portraying Laura Padget in the episode titled “Sunday: Doomsday” on February 4, 1973, and in Mannix (season 3, episode 13) as the wife of a police detective. Hamilton later had a recurring role as Judge Fulton on The Practice.
Hamilton was married to poet and playwright Frank Jenkins from 1964 until his death in 2014. She passed away on June 19, 2025, in Chicago, Illinois, at the age of 95.
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