Esther Rolle

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Esther Rolle and John Amos (1974)

Esther Rolle (born November 8, 1920 in Pompano Beach , Florida , † November 17, 1998 in Culver City , California ) was an American actress .

Life

Esther Rolle was the tenth of 18 children. Her older sisters Estelle Evans (1906–1985) and Rosanna Carter (1918–2016) also became actresses. She attended Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Florida and graduated from Blanche Ely High School. She initially studied at Spelman College in Atlanta before moving to New York City. She attended Hunter College, The New School for Social Research, and Yale University, and was a member of the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. fraternity. For many years, Role did a traditional job in New York City's Garment District before turning to acting.

Rolle died of complications from diabetes in November 1998 at the age of 78.

Career

Dance : Role was a member of Asadata Dafora's dance troupe, Shogolo Oloba (later renamed Federal Theater African Dance Troupe). She became the troupe's director in 1960.

Theater : Her first acting roles were on stage; She made her New York stage debut in 1962 as "The Blacks". Rolles most prominent role was in Don't Play Us Cheap from 1973 in the role of Miss Maybell.

Film and Television : Rolles made her on-screen debut with a minor role as a churchgoer in Nothing but a Human (1964). It appeared in Gordon Parks' The Learning Tree (1969). She has also appeared in a number of feature films and television films, including her appearances as a kind-hearted housekeeper in Miss Daisy and Her Chauffeur, and as the White House cook in A President Just In Case . A memorable role was that of Aunt Sarah in Rosewood Burning from 1997. She was best known in the USA, however, especially in the 1970s for the role of Florida Evans in two television series: This character was in the first two seasons of the sitcom Maude seen for the first two seasons as the funny housekeeper of Beatrice Arthur's main character. The Florida Evans character was so popular that the character eventually got its own series, Good Times , in which she and her family were the focus. For Good Times , which ran for six seasons until 1979, Rolle was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress in the Musical / Comedy category in 1975 .

Music : In 1975, Rolle released an album called The Garden of My Mind .

In 1990 she became the first woman to receive the NAACP Chairman's Civil Rights Leadership Award.

Filmography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Biography in the New York Times
personal data
SURNAME Rolle, Esther
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH November 8, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Pompano Beach , Florida
DATE OF DEATH November 17, 1998
Place of death Culver City , California