Esther Elizabeth Rolle (November 8, 1920 – November 17, 1998) was an American actress. She is best known for her role as Florida Evans, on the CBS television sitcom '' Maude,'' for two seasons (1972–1974), and its

spin-off Spin-off may refer to: *Spin-off (media), a media work derived from an existing work *Corporate spin-off, a type of corporate action that forms a new company or entity * Government spin-off, civilian goods which are the result of military or gov ...

series ''

Good Times ''Good Times'' is an American television sitcom that aired for six seasons on CBS, from February 8, 1974, to August 1, 1979. Created by Eric Monte and Mike Evans and developed by executive producer Norman Lear, it was television's first Afric ...

'', for five seasons (1974–77, 1978–79), for which Rolle was nominated for a

Golden Globe Award The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of ...

for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1976. In 1979, Rolle won the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Special for the television film '' Summer of My German Soldier''.

Early life

Esther Rolle was born in

Pompano Beach, Florida Pompano Beach ( ) is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is located along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, just north of Fort Lauderdale. The nearby Hillsboro Inlet forms part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. As of the 2 ...

to Bahamian immigrants Jonathan Rolle (1883–1953), a farmer, and Elizabeth Iris Rolle (née Dames; 1887–1981). Her parents were both born and raised in Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas and moved to Florida some time after their marriage. She was the tenth of 18 children (children who included siblings and fellow actresses

Estelle Evans Estelle Rolle Evans (October 1, 1906 – July 20, 1985) was a Bahamian American actress during the 20th century. Some of her most famous appearances were in the movies '' The Quiet One'' (1948), ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' (1962), and '' The Lea ...

and Rosanna Carter). Rolle graduated from

Blanche Ely High School Blanche Ely High School is a high school located in Pompano Beach, Broward County, Florida. The school is named for Blanche Ely, former principal and social activist. In addition to Pompano Beach, Ely serves a portion of Deerfield Beach and ...

in Pompano Beach, Florida.Esther Rolle
at the African American Registry She initially studied at

Spelman College Spelman College is a private, historically black, women's liberal arts college in Atlanta, Georgia. It is part of the Atlanta University Center academic consortium in Atlanta. Founded in 1881 as the Atlanta Baptist Female Seminary, Spelman rece ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, before moving to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. While in New York, she attended

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also admin ...

before transferring to

The New School The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers. ...

and then

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the w ...

New Haven, Connecticut New Haven is a city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound in New Haven County, Connecticut and is part of the New York City metropolitan area. With a population of 134 ...

. For many years, Rolle worked in a traditional day job in New York City's garment district.

Career

Dance and theater

Rolle was a member of

Asadata Dafora Austin Dafora Horton (4 August 1890 – 4 March 1965) also known as Asadata Dafora was a Sierra Leonean multidisciplinary musician. He was one of the first Africans to introduce African drumming music to the United States, beginning in the early ...

's dance troupe, Shogolo Oloba (later renamed the Federal Theater African Dance Troupe). She became the troupe's director in 1960. Rolle's earliest roles were on the stage; her New York stage debut was in the 1962 play '' The Blacks''. She was often cast in plays produced by

Robert Hooks Robert Hooks (born Bobby Dean Hooks; April 18, 1937) is an American actor, producer, and activist. Along with Douglas Turner Ward and Gerald S. Krone, he founded The Negro Ensemble Company. The Negro Ensemble Company is credited with the laun ...

and the

Negro Ensemble Company The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC) is a New York City-based theater company and workshop established in 1967 by playwright Douglas Turner Ward, producer-actor Robert Hooks, and theater manager Gerald S. Krone, with funding from the Ford Foundation ...

. She also appeared in productions of ''

The Crucible ''The Crucible'' is a 1953 play by American playwright Arthur Miller. It is a dramatized and partially fictionalized story of the Salem witch trials that took place in the Massachusetts Bay Colony during 1692–93. Miller wrote the play as ...

'' and ''Blues for Mr. Charlie''. Rolle's most prominent early role was as Miss Maybell in the

Melvin Van Peebles Melvin Van Peebles (born Melvin Peebles; August 21, 1932 – September 21, 2021) was an American actor, filmmaker, writer, and composer. He worked as an active filmmaker into the 2000s. His feature film debut, '' The Story of a Three-Day Pass'' ...

musical film '' Don't Play Us Cheap'', and it's subsequent stage adaptation. In 1977, Rolle portrayed Lady Macbeth in Orson Welles' Haitian-influenced version of William Shakespeare's ''Macbeth'' at the Henry Street New Federal Theater in Manhattan.

Television

Rolle is best known for her television role as Florida Evans, the character she played on two 1970s

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

s. The character was introduced as Maude Findlay's housekeeper on '' Maude'', and was spun off in the show's second season into ''

'', a show about Florida's family. Rolle was nominated in 1975 for the Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy

for her role in ''Good Times''. Rolle was 19 years older than the actor ( John Amos) who played her husband James (named Henry on Maude) Evans. The James Evans character was only added after Esther Rolle fought hard for a father figure and husband to be added to the show. Rolle had fought for the father character on the show, more relevant themes and scripts and was unhappy with the success of Jimmie Walker's character, J.J. Evans, which she believed took the show in a frivolous direction. John Amos agreed with Rolle about Walker's character and was fired from the show after the third season ended. Later on, in a stand-off with ''Good Times'' producer

Norman Lear Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning '' All in the Fami ...

, Rolle also quit when her contract ended. Although the show continued without her for the fifth season, she returned for the show's final season. In 1979 she won an

Emmy The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

for her role in '' Summer of My German Soldier'', a made-for-television movie. Among her guest-starring roles was one on '' The Incredible Hulk'' in an episode entitled "Behind the Wheel", in which she played a taxicab business owner. In the 1990s, Rolle was a surprise guest on

RuPaul RuPaul Andre Charles (born November 17, 1960; stylized as RuPaul) is an American drag queen, television personality, actor, musician, and model. Best known for producing, hosting, and judging the reality competition series '' RuPaul's Drag Race ...

VH-1 VH1 (originally an initialism of Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network based in New York City and owned by Paramount Global. It was created by Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment, at the time a division of Warner Communi ...

talk show. Her ''Maude'' co-star Bea Arthur was the guest, and Rolle was brought out to surprise Arthur. The two had not seen each other in years, Arthur said, and embraced warmly. Rolle also appeared in a series of

psychic A psychic is a person who claims to use extrasensory perception (ESP) to identify information hidden from the normal senses, particularly involving telepathy or clairvoyance, or who performs acts that are apparently inexplicable by natural laws ...

hotline TV commercials in the 1990s. "Tell them Esther sent you," was her trademark line.

Music and film

Rolle released an album of music titled ''The Garden of My Mind'' in 1975. Rolle's first screen appearance is a small, uncredited role in ''

To Kill a Mockingbird ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' is a novel by the American author Harper Lee. It was published in 1960 and was instantly successful. In the United States, it is widely read in high schools and middle schools. ''To Kill a Mockingbird'' has become ...

'' (1962), and she later appeared in Gordon Parks' ''

The Learning Tree ''The Learning Tree'' is a 1969 American coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Gordon Parks. It depicts the life of Newt Winger, a teenager growing up in Cherokee Flats, Kansas, in the 1920s, and chronicles his journey into manhood ...

'' (1969). Her sister, actress

, appeared in both films as well. Esther Rolle appeared early in her career in the film '' Nothing But a Man'' (1964). After ''Good Times'' ended, she appeared in a number of made-for-television movies and films, including ''

Driving Miss Daisy '' Driving Miss Daisy'' is a 1989 American comedy-drama film directed by Bruce Beresford and written by Alfred Uhry, based on his 1987 play of the same name. The film stars Jessica Tandy, Morgan Freeman, and Dan Aykroyd. Freeman reprised his r ...

'' and ''

My Fellow Americans ''My Fellow Americans'' is a 1996 American political comedy film directed by Peter Segal. It stars Jack Lemmon and James Garner as feuding ex-presidents, with Dan Aykroyd, Lauren Bacall, Esther Rolle, John Heard, Wilford Brimley, Bradley Whi ...

''. A memorable role was that of Aunt Sarah in the film ''

Rosewood Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus ''Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated ...

'' (1997). She had a major role in '' I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' based on

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

's memoir of the same name, and has the distinction of having won the first

for the category Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, in 1979, for her work in the television movie '' Summer of My German Soldier''. She is also credited for her role in the film '' The Mighty Quinn'' (1989), starring

Denzel Washington Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. (born December 28, 1954) is an American actor and filmmaker. He has been described as an actor who reconfigured "the concept of classic movie stardom". Throughout his career spanning over four decades, Washington ha ...

and

Sheryl Lee Ralph Sheryl Lee Ralph OJ is an American actress and singer. She made her screen debut in the 1977 comedy film '' A Piece of the Action'', before landing the role of Deena Jones in the Broadway musical '' Dreamgirls'' (1981), for which she received ...

, and featuring Robert Townsend. Her last film, ''

Train Ride A train ride or miniature train consists of miniature trains capable of carrying people. Some are considered amusement rides and some are located in amusement parks and municipal parks. Backyard railroads and ridable miniature railways run on ...

'', was released in 2000 despite being filmed in 1998.

Personal life

Esther_Rolle%27s_gravesite_at_Westview_Community_Cemetery_in_Pompano_Beach_FL

Rolle's only marriage was to Oscar Robinson. The two were married from 1955 to 1975. They had no children.

Death

Rolle died on November 17, 1998, in

Culver City, California Culver City is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 40,779. Founded in 1917 as a "whites only" sundown town, it is now an ethnically diverse city with what was called the "third-most ...

, from complications of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

, nine days after her 78th birthday. A devout member of the

African Methodist Episcopal Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church, usually called the AME Church or AME, is a predominantly African American Methodist denomination. It adheres to Wesleyan-Arminian theology and has a connexional polity. The African Methodist Episcopal ...

, Rolle requested that her funeral be held at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church. She is buried in Westview Community Cemetery in

. The cemetery is a historically black burial ground created in 1952, a time when the laws and customs of Florida did not permit white people and black people to be buried in the same cemetery.

Legacy

Collection of Esther Rolle's personal works

Rolle's family donated over 100 items of hers to the

African-American Research Library and Cultural Center The African-American Research Library and Cultural Center is a library located at 2650 Sistrunk Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in the United States. A branch of the Broward County Library, it opened on October 26, 2002. The library build ...

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 Unit ...

. The collection includes gowns, a black Raggedy Andy doll she endorsed, a recording of poems recited by Rolle, and awards such as the 1974 NAACP Eighth Image Award for Best Actress in a Series and her 1979 Emmy for her role in '' Summer of My German Soldier''.

Filmography/television

Stage work

* ''Day of Absence'' (1965) * ''Happy Ending'' (1965) * ''

The Amen Corner ''The Amen Corner'' is a three-act play by James Baldwin. It was Baldwin's first work for the stage following the success of his novel '' Go Tell It on the Mountain''. The drama was first published in 1954, and inspired a short-lived 1983 Broadw ...

'' (1965) * ''Man Better Man'' (1969) * ''Akokawe'' (1970) * ''Ride a Black Horse'' (1971) * '' The Dream on Monkey Mountain'' (1971) * ''Rosalee Pritchett'' (1971) * '' Don't Play Us Cheap'' (1972) * ''A Ballet Behind the Bridge'' (1972) * ''Horowitz and Mrs. Washington'' (1980) * ''

Nevis Mountain Dew ''Nevis Mountain Dew'' is a 1978 play by American playwright steve carter . Set in the 1950s, it is the second of Carter's Caribbean trilogy. ''Nevis Mountain Dew'' explores the subject of euthanasia involving the patriarch of an affluent family ...

'' (1980) * ''

Dame Lorraine Dame Lorraine or Dame Lorine (Trinidad and Tobago) called ''Mother Sally'' in the land of its birth, Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern co ...

'' (1981) * ''A Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet'' (1982) * ''

A Raisin in the Sun ''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chi ...

'' (1989) * '' Member of the Wedding'' (1989)

References

Notes

# Reprinted a
Esther Rolle's Obituary From CNN
at sitcomsonline.com

Citations

Sources

External links

* * * * *
Esther Rolle Collection, African American Research Library and Cultural Center, Broward County Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rolle, Esther 1920 births 1998 deaths American film actresses American stage actresses American television actresses American female dancers Activists for African-American civil rights Outstanding Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie Primetime Emmy Award winners Savoy Records artists Blanche Ely High School alumni Hunter College alumni Spelman College alumni The New School alumni Yale University alumni Methodists from Florida American people of Bahamian descent People from Pompano Beach, Florida Dancers from Florida Deaths from diabetes Burials in Florida American activists 20th-century American people 20th-century American actresses 20th-century American dancers 20th-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people