Roxie Roker
Acting
Biography
Roxie Albertha Roker was an American actress who portrayed Helen Willis on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, half of the first interracial couple to be shown on regular prime time television. Roker is the mother of rock musician Lenny Kravitz and paternal grandmother of actress Zoë Kravitz.
Born: August 28, 1929
Known For
All in the Family
Archie Bunker, a working class bigot, constantly squabbles with his family over the important issues of the day.
Murder, She Wrote
An unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.
Roots
The epic tale of celebrated Pulitzer-prize winning author Alex Haley's ancestors as portrayed in the acclaimed twelve hour mini-series Roots, was first told in his 1976 bestseller Roots: The Saga of an American Family. The docu-drama covers a period of history that begins in mid-1700s Gambia, West Africa and concludes during post-Civil War United States, over 100 years later. This 1977 miniseries eventually won 9 Emmy awards, a Golden Globe award, and a Peabody award, and still stands as the most watched miniseries in U.S. history.
Punky Brewster
An abandoned waif and her dog are taken in by a cranky apartment manager who becomes her guardian in this family-friendly sitcom.
The Jeffersons
Sitcom following a successful African-American couple, George and Louise “Weezyö Jefferson as they “move on up” from working-class Queens to a ritzy Manhattan apartment. A spin-off of All in the Family.
Kojak
A bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City.
Claudine
Claudine is a single mother in New York City who endures an exhausting commute to the suburbs where she works as a maid for wealthy families. In one carefully tended white community, she meets Roop, a charismatic but irresponsible garbage collector. Romance quickly ensues, but Claudine doubts that their relationship is good for her six children, and Rupert, despite his good nature, is reluctant to take on fatherhood.
A Different World
A Different World is a spin-off series from The Cosby Show and originally centered on Denise Huxtable and the life of students at Hillman College, a fictional mixed but historically black college in the state of Virginia. After Bonet's departure in the first season, the remainder of the series primarily focused more on Southern belle Whitley Gilbert and mathematics whiz Dwayne Wayne. The series frequently depicted members of the major historically black fraternities and sororities.
Cagney & Lacey
Mary Beth Lacey and Chris Cagney are teamed up as NYPD police detectives. Their opposing personalities (one is tough and the other sensitive) mesh to make this one of the great crime-fighting duos of all time.
227
A housewife sits on the stoop of her apartment building in a black neighborhood of Washington, D.C., and discusses all manner of things with her neighbors.
Filmography
as (segment 'Space Traders')
as Mrs. Russell
as Phyllis Brooks
as Dean Barksdale
as Female Republican (segment "Blacks Without Soul")
as Jennifer Bryce
as Judge J.F. Taylor
as Madge Davis
as Bohamiar Radio Operator
as Mrs. Peoples
as Malizy
as Helen Woodroow Willis
as Mrs. Winston
as Carol Lessonbee
as Helen Willis