James Avery, Co-Star of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,’ Dies

James Avery, the veteran TV actor who portrayed Uncle Phil on the sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” has died. He was reportedly 68 years old.

Avery’s publicist told The Associated Press that the actor died Tuesday in Glendale, Calif., in the wake of complications from open heart surgery.

On “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which helped launch rapper-actor Will Smith to superstardom, Avery played Philip Banks, the rich relation who provides a stable home environment to Smith’s rapping, puckish character–and who must also endure his constant hijinks. The show ran from 1990-1996, and is fondly remembered for bringing hip-hop culture (or at least an easygoing version of it) to prime time, and for its jaunty rap theme song.


Born in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Avery also appeared on such TV shows as “L.A. Law” and “The Closer.”

While “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” took the form of a traditional sitcom, from a social standpoint it was also breakthrough television. Smith became one of the first rap stars to achieve acting success on a hit television show, and went on to become a movie star as well. The Banks family was also one of the few wealthy African-American families ever to be featured on television.  Uncle Phil lives in a mansion, and is law firm partner and later becomes a judge. The program, by showing a wide range of black characters and capturing wide mainstream viewership while doing so, opened the door to richer, more diverse portrait of black life on TV.

Actor Alfonso Ribeiro, who played Avery’s son on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” had a note posted on his Twitter page reading “I’m deeply saddened to say that James Avery has passed away. He was a second father to me. I will miss him greatly.”

Actor Will Smith’s Twitter page retweeted the news about Avery’s death.

Follow me @cjfarley on Twitter and look out for my coming book “Game World.”