LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Esther Rolle: New York
built 176 days ago
Rolle attended Booker T. Washington High School in Miami, Florida and then Spelman College for a year before moving to New York. She supported herself by working in a pocketbook factory while auditioning for the theater. While taking drama classes at George Washington Carver School in Harlem, she got a scholarship to study acting at New York's innovative New School for Social Research. During this time she met and became a member of African dance master Asadata Dafora's dance troupe, Shogola Oloba, she became the troupe's director in 1960.
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JJ became even more of a focus for the series, and this (may have) lead to Esther Rolle's abrupt departure from 'Good Times' in 1977. The official explanation was that the actress was ill and unable to return to the show. A new storyline was created that had Florida marrying Carl over the summer - while they were on their honeymoon, the couple decided to stay down south for Carl's health.
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Rolle's earliest roles were on the stage; her New York stage debut was in the 1962 play The Blacks. She was often cast in plays produced by Robert Hooks and the Negro Ensemble Company. She ... appeared in productions of The Crucible and Blues for Mr. Charlie.[1]
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With Amos and Rolle gone, Ja'net Du Bois took over as the star, checking on the Evans children as they were now living alone. New characters were added or had their roles expanded: Johnny Brown as the overweight building superintendent Nathan Bookman; Ben Powers as Thelma's husband Keith Anderson; and Janet Jackson as Penny Gordon Woods, an abused girl adopted by Willona.
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