When “Esther” and “Woodrow” adopted their son on Sanford and Son, the teenager added a different dimension to the show and then after a few episodes, he never returned. Ever since his Sanford and Son days actor, Eric Laneuville, has been on various TV shows and movies, but over a period of time it seemed like Eric and his career kind of phased out. After doing a lil’ digging, we’ve learned that phasing out couldn’t be farther from the truth when it comes to Eric’s career.
First off, can somebody point us in the direction of the fountain of youth Eric Laneuville is sipping from? Back in the day he often played characters that were younger than what his real age was and now we see why.
Like we mentioned earlier, Eric is now 68, but he looks more like 46! Could his anti-aging have something to do with the fact that he’s been living a well-off, stress-free life? Based on how his career has been thriving behind the scenes, probably so.
You see, Eric is a very in-demand director, who has directed far more TV shows and movies than the amount of roles he’s played…and has been doing so for the past few decades, ever since the mid 80’s.
Sure we’ve seen Eric in various shows like St. Elsewhere and Room 222 back in the day, but it’s his director’s hat that has kept him in the biz. He’s directed TV shows that range from Doogie Howser, ER, and Everybody Hates Chris, to the TV show he’s currently directing, which is the ABC TV drama series, Mistresses. Most recently, he’s directed the latest season of the series, Lethal Weapon, starring Damon Wayans and Clayne Crawford.
Unfortunately, Crawford has reportedly caused a ton of hostile problems and outbursts on set with Damon Wayans and some staff members. It apparently got so bad that in June 2018, Variety reported that Eric Laneuville quit the production, after he’d had it up to HERE with Crawford’s outbursts and Clayne then agreed to go to counseling. Crawford had reportedly cursed out the crew about kids being on set at a nearby swimming pool where they were filming. Crawford also reportedly called Wayans a “pu&&y” after Wayans got cut from shrapnel that mistakenly exploded during one scene. Wayans supposedly clapped back at Crawford, telling him to “suck this pu&&y’s d**k.” Geesh…can’t blame Eric for leaving off that set. But I digress.
Anywho, we would list all of his credentials, but we’d be here all night…it’s that many, so hopefully we’ve given you a good taste of Eric’s range and how many projects he’s touched and turned to platinum.
In 2014 Eric, along with Debbie Allen and Stan Lathan, were honored by the Director’s Guild of America for ‘their outstanding careers in television and their groundbreaking contributions to greater diversity behind the camera.’
As far as Eric’s personal life, he’s pretty much the type of cat who likes to fly under the media radar, but we do know that he has a son, named Sean Laneuville.
Overall it’s still difficult to get those images of “Esther” and “Woodrow’s” adopted son out my head whenever I see Eric Laneuville’s face, no matter how much older he gets. Eric has come a long way since his Sanford and Son days, but the impression he left on us Old Schoolers, as the teenager with the big ‘fro, will forever be etched in our memories.
