Good Times - The Rent Party Part 2 of 3

Janet Jackson- Penny

Good Times VS. Child Abuse [HearnDiaries]

Jimmy "J.J." Walker

Good Times - JJ's Love Poem

Ja'Net DuBois- Willona

Good Times - Willona's New Job Pt 1 of 2

Actress Esther Rolle, 78, Dies In Los Angeles

Esther Rolle, the Emmy Award-winning actress who won acclaim on the hit CBS sitcom "Good Times" as well as on stage and in the movies, recently died in Los Angeles of undetermined causes. She was 78.

At the time of her death Ms. Rolle suffered from diabetes, said Larry Calhoun, her publicist of eight years.

He told JET, "She had been on kidney dialysis for the last couple of months. She handled it (her illness) well and was still handling her commitments. I was at her house the night it happened (Nov. 17, 1998), updating her calendar. She felt fine when I left. She apparently had some difficulty breathing and called her nephew around 9:30 p.m. He called paramedics. They tried working on her at the house and took her to the Brotman Memorial Hospital in Culver City where she was pronounced dead." He said the causes have yet to be determined.

The famed actress died little more than a week after her 78th birthday on Nov. 8.
Ironically, Jet received a photograph of Rolle's birthday celebration in West Hollywood, CA, just a day before she died.

Her birthday gala was one of her last public appearances, and she celebrated it with her "Good Times" TV daughter, Bern Nadette Stanis (Thelma) during Spelman College's National Alumnae Association (Hollywood/San Fernando Valley Chapter) Awards Gala in West Hollywood, CA. Ms. Rolle, who spent her freshman year at Spelman, was honored along with Dr. Johnnetta Cole, former president of Spelman, and the late educator-activist Dr. Betty Shabazz. Rolle was surprised with a birthday tribute at the gala.

Rolle is best remembered for her role as the strong-willed, feisty mother on "Good Times." When she was offered the role of Florida Evans, she insisted that the family be headed by a male figure. That role went to John Amos, who played her husband in the long-running series that ran from 1974 to 1979.

"I told them I couldn't compound the lie that Black fathers don't care about their children," she once said. "I was proud of the family life I was able to introduce to television."