[7] Upon returning home as a decorated veteran in the late 1960s, Wilson was featured in several Broadway and off-Broadway stage productions before moving to Hollywood, where he performed guest roles on several television series such as Mission: Impossible and All in the Family and acted in films such as The Organization (1971) and Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues (1972).

Wilson played Lamont through the run of the series, and became the star when Redd Foxx walked off the show in 1974 over a salary dispute with the producers and his character was written out for the rest of the season.

[citation needed] When asked in 2014 if he kept in touch with anybody from Sanford & Son, especially Foxx (who died on October 11, 1991), he responded: Wilson also appeared in the films Full Moon High (1981), Me and the Kid (1993), and Hammerlock (2000).

and as Oscar Madison, opposite actor Ron Glass (who co-starred as Felix Ungar) in the ABC sitcom The New Odd Couple,[4] a revamped black version of the original 1970–75 series on the same network which starred Jack Klugman and Tony Randall, which was in turn based on the 1968 film starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau.

"[9][10] Wilson has also made numerous guest appearances on the Praise the Lord program aired on the Trinity Broadcasting Network, and is a good friend of Clifton Davis.

In the summer of 2011, Wilson started appearing with actress Nina Nicole in a touring production of the play The Measure of a Man by playwright Matt Hardwick.

[citation needed] In 1984 he was ordained as a minister in the Church of God in Christ and has been an active Christian evangelist for much of his adult life.