Although Rivera said she had good memories on the set of The Royal Family, there was one memory she had that wasn’t so good. The actor said she was practicing her lines with Foxx one day when something unusual happened.
On October 11, 1991—less than a month after The Royal Family had premiered—Redd and I were running our lines on set. He was sitting in an easy chair, and I was standing on my mark in front of him, when all of a sudden, he kind of slumped over and fell to the floor. For a while, no one moved. One of the producers even yelled, ‘Redd, come on!’ Everyone assumed it was just part of his routine, so we waited patiently for him to stand back up. Except, he didn’t.
[Della Reese] rushed over, leaned down to him, and heard him saying, ‘Get my wife–get my wife.’ Della stood up and started screaming, which jolted everyone in the room into action. He was the first person I knew who died, and I still remember his funeral—which was held in Las Vegas—very vividly. It was open casket. He looked very kingly in a white suit, and it was a fitting tribute to a man who liked to live large.
Naya Rivera in Sorry Not Sorry
