“If you’re still breathing, it’s not too late.”
-Marla Gibbs
Marla Gibbs was a 44 year-old mother of two living in Detroit when she decided to become an actress. She moved her family to LA, went on auditions, and got cast on “The Jeffersons,” all while working full-time for United Airlines. Most people in her circumstances wouldn’t have taken that chance on themselves. They’d more likely hold the dream in the back of their minds and every once in a while wonder, “What if?”
Instead of wondering, Marla Gibbs chose herself. She became a TV icon playing housekeeper Florence Johnston on “The Jeffersons.” Florence was the working class foil to her nouveau riche bosses and their fancy neighbors in an Upper East Side Manhattan apartment building. Gibbs’ brilliant combination of incisive wit and precise comic timing made millions of people laugh every week. The role of Florence Johnston made Marla Gibbs a TV star. She went on to “227,” another TV hit that solidified her status as a television legend.
Voracious DPC 