Tuanchai Mackenzie was the wife of Flip Wilson. Tuanchai Mackenzie’s husband Wilson was an American comedian and actor best known for his television appearances during the late 1960s and 1970s. From 1970 to 1974, Wilson hosted his own weekly variety series The Flip Wilson Show and introduced viewers to his recurring character Geraldine.
How did Tuanchai Mackenzie and Flip Wilson meet?
Mackenzie’s husband, Wilson was married twice, she is the second woman he got married to. In 1957, he married Lavenia Patricia “Peaches” Wilson (née Dean); they divorced in 1967. He had four children with his common-law wife Blonell Pitman. After winning custody of his children in 1979, Wilson performed less in order to spend more time with them.
How did the two former love birds meet and started their relationship? The couple never gave an account of the circumstances that lead to their path crossing and hence their marriage, However, it is known that on 14 December 1979, Wilson married Tuanchai “Cookie” MacKenzie, with whom he had one child. The couple later called their marriage a quit. They divorced on 5 December 1984. The reason behind their divorce was never made public.
Not much information is available related to Tuanchai, she only came into the limelight after she got married to the famous comedian. Tuanchai Mackenzie once again went out of the limelight after her marriage with Wison didn’t work out. Not much has been heard from her ever since.
Tuanchai Mackenzie’s Ex-Husband, Flip Wilson
Tuanchai Mackenzie’s ex-husband, Wilson received a Golden Globe and two Emmy Awards for the series, The Flip Wilson Show, which was the second-highest-rated show on network television for a time. Wilson was the first African-American to host a popular television variety show.
Wilson’s image appeared on the cover of Time magazine in January 1972, and he was dubbed “TV’s first black superstar” at the time. In the 1960s and 1970s, he released a number of comedy albums and won a Grammy Award for his 1970 album The Devil Made Me Buy This Dress.
Wilson continued to perform and act until the 1990s, albeit on a reduced schedule. In 1984, he hosted a short-lived revival of People Are Funny, and he starred in the 1985–1986 sitcom Charlie & Co.
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Tuanchai Mackenzie’s ex-husband toured regularly through nightclubs with a black clientele in the so-called “Chitlin’ Circuit”. During the 1960s, Wilson became a regular at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. An unexpected break came in 1965 when comedian Redd Foxx was a guest on The Tonight Show and host Johnny Carson asked him who the funniest comedian at the time was; Foxx answered, “Flip Wilson”.
Carson then booked Wilson to appear on The Tonight Show and Wilson became a favorite guest on that show as well as on The Ed Sullivan Show. Wilson later singled out Sullivan as providing his biggest career boost. Wilson also made guest appearances on numerous TV comedies and variety shows, such as Here’s Lucy (in which he played the role of “Prissy” in a spoof of Gone with the Wind with Lucille Ball as Scarlett), Laugh-In, and The Dean Martin Show, among others.
Wilson was arrested and charged with possessing a small amount of cocaine in March 1981.
Tuanchai Mackenzie’s ex-husband died of liver cancer on November 25, 1998, in Malibu, California, at the age of 64. He was cremated and his ashes were scattered off Malibu Beach at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery.
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