Esther Rolle

Esther Elizabeth Rolle was born on November 8, 1920, in Pompano Beach, Florida, the tenth of eighteen children born to Bahamian immigrants Jonathan Rolle, a farmer, and Elizabeth Iris Rolle. Her father had relocated to Florida to work for the railway, and the family followed around 1919. Two of her older sisters, Estelle Evans and Rosanna Carter, also became actresses. Rolle attended Booker T. Washington High School in Miami before transferring to Blanche Ely High School in Pompano Beach, from which she graduated. She went on to study at Spelman College in Atlanta, then later at Hunter College and The New School in New York City, and subsequently at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. Before establishing herself as a performer, she worked for a number of years in New York City's garment district.

Rolle's early performance work was rooted in dance and theater. She was a member of Asadata Dafora's dance troupe, Shogolo Oloba, later known as the Federal Theater African Dance Troupe, and became its director in 1960. Her New York stage debut came in 1962 with the play The Blacks, and she went on to appear in productions including The Crucible and Blues for Mr. Charlie, frequently working with Robert Hooks and the Negro Ensemble Company. Her Broadway career spanned from 1972 to 1980. She played Miss Maybell in Melvin Van Peebles's 1972 Broadway musical Don't Play Us Cheap, a role she reprised in the 1973 film adaptation. In 1980, she starred in Horowitz and Mrs. Washington on Broadway. Beyond her Broadway appearances, Rolle portrayed Lady Macbeth in 1977 in an Orson Welles production of Macbeth set in a Haitian context, staged at the Henry Street New Federal Theater in Manhattan.

Rolle is widely recognized for her television work as Florida Evans, a character she originated on the CBS sitcom Maude, where Florida appeared as housekeeper to the title character across two seasons from 1972 to 1974. The character was then spun off into Good Times, a series centered on Florida's family. Rolle was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy in 1976 for her performance on Good Times. She advocated strongly for the addition of a father and husband figure to the show, which resulted in the creation of the James Evans character, played by John Amos, who was nineteen years younger than Rolle. Both Rolle and Amos were dissatisfied with the direction the show took through the prominence of Jimmie Walker's character, J.J. Evans. Amos was dismissed after the third season, and Rolle herself left the series when her contract concluded. The show continued without her for its fifth season before she returned for its final season. In 1979, Rolle won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Special for her performance in the television film Summer of My German Soldier, becoming the first Black actress to receive that honor.

Rolle's film career began with an uncredited appearance in To Kill a Mockingbird in 1962, the same film in which her sister Estelle Evans also appeared. She subsequently appeared in Nothing But a Man in 1964 and Gordon Parks's The Learning Tree in 1969. Later film credits include Driving Miss Daisy, My Fellow Americans, The Mighty Quinn, and the role of Aunt Sarah in Rosewood in 1997. She also had a major role in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, based on Maya Angelou's memoir. Her final film released during her lifetime was Maya Angelou's Down in the Delta, alongside Alfre Woodard and Al Freeman Jr. A posthumously released film, Train Ride, had been filmed in 1998 but was released in 2000. In 1975, Rolle released an album of music titled The Garden of My Mind.

Rolle was married to Oscar Robinson from 1955 until their divorce in 1975 and had one ex-stepdaughter, Sherley Mae Robinson, from Robinson's previous marriage. She died on November 17, 1998, in Culver City, California, from complications of diabetes, at the age of 78. A member of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, she requested that her funeral be held at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Pompano Beach, and she is buried at Westview Community Cemetery there, a historically Black burial ground established in 1952. Following her death, her family donated more than one hundred personal items to the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, including gowns, awards, and her 1979 Emmy. A street in Pompano Beach has been named in her honor.