LaWanda Page

LaWanda Page , born Alberta Peal, was an American actress and comedian best known for her role as Aunt Esther in the 1970s TV sitcom Sanford and Son. She later reprised the role in Sanford Arms and Sanford.

She was born on October 19, 1920 in Cleveland, Ohio. Page was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. She began her career in show business working small nightclubs, billed as The Bronze Goddess of Fire, an act which included her eating fire and lighting cigarettes with her fingertips. She performed the cigarette feat on an episode of Sanford and Son titled The Greatest Show in Watts in Seasonof the series, in which Fred held a circus in his front yard. She played the older sister of Elisabeth Sanford, the mother of her nephew Lamont Sanford and the late wife of Fred G. Sanford.

Source: Wikipedia