
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.
Biography from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA. Credits and photos from TMDB.
The titles people know Esther from.
IMDb rating of each title on Cineora, by year.

as Dean of Students
as Annie Sinclair
as Aunt Sarah
as Rita

as Mary Harding · 1 episode
as Aunt Pauline
as Clara Brown
as Mammy · 1 episode
as Mary Harding · 1 episode

as Mrs. Baker
as Idella
as Ubu Pearl

as Lena 'Mama' Younger

as Mim
as Narrator
as Margaret · 1 episode

as Nellie · 1 episode
as Momma
as Ruth
1 episode
as Judge Kramer · 1 episode
as Florida Evans · 109 episodes
as Mrs. Johnson

as Miss Maybell
as Florida Evans · 46 episodes
as uncredited
as Teacher
as Church Woman
as uncredited role

The people who keep turning up in Esther’s titles.









