Early in her career, Esther Rolle was a member of the Shogola Obola Dance Company. One of her first major acting parts was in the 1962 off-Broadway production of Jean Genet’s The Blacks. More New York stage roles followed, and she became a founding member of the Negro Ensemble Company. In the early 1970s, she had a starring part in Melvin Van Peebles’ Broadway musical, Don’t Play Us Cheap, which was turned into a film in 1973. Around this time, she landed the role of Florida Evans, the wisecracking maid on Maude, a comedy series created by Norman Lear that starred Beatrice Arthur in the title role. Audiences loved her character so much that Lear produced a new show for Rolle entitled Good Times.