Esther Rolle

Known for ActingBorn 1920-11-08Died 1998-11-17Pompano Beach, Florida USA

Esther Elizabeth Rolle (November 8, 1920 – November 17, 1998) was a Bahamian American actress. Rolle is best known for her role as Florida Evans, on the CBS television sitcom Maude, for two seasons (1972–1974), and its spin-off series Good Times, for five seasons (1974–77, 1978–79), for which Rolle was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1976. Rolle is best known for her television role as Florida Evans, the character she played on two 1970s sitcoms. The character was introduced as Maude Findlay's housekeeper on Maude, and was spun off in the show's second season into Good Times, a show about Florida's family. Rolle was nominated in 1975 for the Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy Golden Globe Award for her role in Good Times. Rolle was 19 years older than the actor (John Amos) who played her husband James 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 when the success of Jimmie Walker's character, J.J. Evans, 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, 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 for her role in Summer of My German Soldier, a made-for-television movie. Among her guest star roles was one on The Incredible Hulk in an episode entitled "Behind the Wheel" where she played a taxicab business owner. In the 1990s, Rolle was a surprise guest on RuPaul's VH-1 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 hotline TV commercials in the 1990s. "Tell them Esther sent you," was her trademark line.Read more

Movies & web series

Nobody's Girls: Five Women of the West

Hallmark Hall of Fame

The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet

See China and Die

Good Times

Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow!

To Kill a Mockingbird

Age-Old Friends

Murder, She Wrote

Singer and Sons

Cape Fear

Touched by an Angel

Driving Miss Daisy

To Dance with the White Dog

Nothing But a Man

The Incredible Hulk

Ethnic Notions

A Raisin in the Sun

Donny & Marie

Color Adjustment

Up the Down Staircase

Maude

Finder of Lost Loves

Scarlett

The Kid Who Loved Christmas

Rosewood

Promised Land

The Learning Tree

How to Make an American Quilt

Down in the Delta

House of Cards

Flamingo Road

My Fellow Americans

The Mighty Quinn

P.K. and the Kid

Don't Play Us Cheap

Summer of My German Soldier

The New Odd Couple

Train Ride

Cleopatra Jones

Message from Nam

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

The Grand Baby