#the jeffersons
1970s TV Guide Covers
Ann-Margret (1973)
Sonny and Cher (1973)
Sophia Loren (1974)
The cast of “Good Times” (1974)
Cher (1975)
Mike Evans, Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford of “The Jeffersons” (1975)
Marie and Donny Osmond (1976)
Farrah Fawcett-Majors, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith of “Charlie’s Angels” (1976)
Pam Dawber and Robin Williams of “Mork & Mindy” (1978)
The Bee Gees (1979)
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Marion Ramsey’s first screen credit. She’s playing Tracy Davis in a 1976 episode of The Jeffersons.
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August 28th…Roxie Roker
On This Day in Herstory, August 28th 1929, Roxie Roker, an actress who portrayed Helen Willis on The Jeffersons, half of the first interracial couple regularly shown on TV, and mother of Lenny Kravitz and grandmother of Zoë Kravitz, was born in Miami, Florida.
Roxie Albertha Roker, was the daughter of Bessie Mitchell, a domestic worker, and Albert Roker, an immigrant from the Bahamas and a porter. She graduated from Howard University, where she was a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority, the first sorority founded by Black college women. She later moved to Brooklyn, New York to pursue a career as an actress. In 1962, she married television producer Sy Kravitz, a white Jewish man. Together the couple had a son, singer-songwriter and actor Lenny Kravitz; the pair divorced in 1985.
Roxie found her start in professional acting with the Negro Ensemble Company. During her time with the company, she established herself as a successful stage actress. She won an Obie Award in 1974 and was also nominated for a Tony Award. She had supporting and guest starring roles on many TV shows from the 1970s to the 1990s; these shows included Punky Brewster, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, A Different World, Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, and many others. She had roles in the television miniseries Roots and in the movie Claudine. However, she is best known for her portrayal of Helen Willis on The Jeffersons.
The Jeffersons first premiered on CBS in 1975. Straight away the show received a lot of attention because it portrayed a Black family that was upwardly mobile, additionally, the show featured one TVs first interracial couples, Tom and Helen Willis, the neighbors of the Jefferson family. Despite the show being a comedy, it also exemplified some of the bigotry and racism faced by interracial couples.
In addition to her acting, Roxie was a children’s advocate; and she was cited by Los Angeles for her community work. Roxie Roker died in Los Angeles, California, on December 2nd, 1995, as a result of breast cancer, she was 66 years old.
