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Marla Gibbs

Marla Gibbs

Highest Rated: 72% The Visit (2000)

Lowest Rated: 0% Foolish (1999)

Birthday: Jun 14, 1931

Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois, USA

Marla Gibbs has earned her place in TV history playing Florence Johnston, the less than efficient and always wisecracking maid of George and Louise Jefferson on "The Jeffersons" (CBS, 1975-1985), and as Mary Jenkins, gossipy homemaker and general building yenta on the NBC series "227," which she also co-produced. Acting, let alone stardom, came to Marla Gibbs relatively late. A divorcee with three children, she worked as a receptionist, addressograph operator, switchboard operator, and was a reservations clerk for United Airlines before she even attempted acting professionally. In fact, she left Detroit, where she was working for United Airlines, and transferred to L.A. for the climate and her daughter's schooling. It was when looking into after school activities for her daughter that Gibbs herself signed up for some acting lessons at a performing arts center. She was hooked. Her first role came with the obscure independent film "Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man" (1972), and can also be spotted in the blaxploitation "Black Belt Jones" (1974). In 1975, Gibbs was hired for a guest shot on "The Jeffersons" playing one of the candidates for household domestic nouveau riche George is interviewing over the objections of his wife. Per the script, Gibbs brought down the house when she noticed that African Americans were living in this swanky East Side New York building and asked, "How come we got over and nobody told me?" Norman Lear and the powers at his TAT Communications were so taken by Gibbs, that they hired her as a regular member of the cast where for 11 seasons she shirked her maid duties and insulted Sherman Hemsley, besides earning five Emmy nominations as best supporting actress in a comedy series. Gibbs disappeared for a short while in 1981 when she was given a four-episode tryout on her own series, "Checking In" (CBS), in which Florence becomes supervisor of maid services at a hotel. When the tryout didn't click, she returned to "The Jeffersons." When "The Jeffersons" was cancelled after 11 seasons, Gibbs was ready. She had acquired the rights to a play performed in her native Chicago about an overbearing woman in an apartment building. Gibbs performed the play, also called "227" at her own Crossroads Theatre in the Leimert Park section of Los Angeles -- which she had founded in 1981 -- then sold NBC on the concept for a series. The result was "227," which ran on NBC from 1985-1990. Her popularity also made Fox take a look at Gibbs as a possible talk show host and she was one of a revolving number of hosts on "The Late Show" in 1986. Gibbs began in longforms in 1976 with a role in "The Moneychangers" for NBC, and, in 1993, she was a bureaucratic clerk causing problems for Bonnie Bedelia in the miniseries "The Fire Next Time" (CBS). Gibbs also played Natalie Cole's mother in the USA Network original movie "Lily in Winter" (1994), and returned to feature films in 1993 with a cameo in "Meteor Man" for director Robert Townsend. In 1982 Gibbs bought a club on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Los Angeles and renamed it "Marla's." For a good part of a decade it was a meeting place and performance venue for the African American community, in which Gibbs has taken a active role. She has won seven NAACP Image Awards.

Highest rated movies

72% 45% The Visit
63% 84% The Brothers
55% 35% Lemon 54% 48% Spirit Halloween: The Movie
25% 36% The Meteor Man
22% 60% Love Jacked
19% 66% Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection
13% 28% Lost & Found

Filmography

Movies

Credit
No Score Yet 86% A Snowy Day in Oakland Mrs. Keys (Character) - 2023
54% 48% Spirit Halloween: The Movie Grandma G (Character) - 2022
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Christmas Prayer Mrs. Gladys (Character) - 2022
No Score Yet 41% She Ball Mrs. Watts (Character) - 2020
No Score Yet No Score Yet One Fine Christmas Alice (Character) - 2019
22% 60% Love Jacked Rose (Character) - 2018
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Last Revolutionary Millie (Character) - 2017
No Score Yet 16% You Can't Fight Christmas Beverly Lawrence (Character) - 2017
55% 35% Lemon Lily (Character) $29.1K 2017
No Score Yet No Score Yet Second Sight Nana (Character) - 2016
No Score Yet No Score Yet Who Killed Soul Glow? Unknown (Character) - 2016
No Score Yet 44% The Man in 3B Ms. Mamie (Character) $291.1K 2015
No Score Yet 46% Grantham & Rose Rose Price (Character) - 2014
No Score Yet No Score Yet Forbidden Woman Mrs. Simmons (Character) - 2013
19% 66% Tyler Perry's Madea's Witness Protection Hattie (Character) $65.6M 2012
No Score Yet 33% C'mon Man Mrs. Crabtree (Character) - 2012
No Score Yet No Score Yet Voices of Leimert Unknown (Character) - 2010
No Score Yet No Score Yet Sunnyview Mrs. Harris (Character) - 2010
No Score Yet No Score Yet Afro Ninja Aunt Mary (Character) - 2009
63% 84% The Brothers Mary West (Character) $27.5M 2001
No Score Yet 83% Stanley's Gig Eleanor Whitney (Character) - 2000
72% 45% The Visit Lois Waters (Character) $186.4K 2000
13% 28% Lost & Found Enid (Character) $6.5M 1999
0% 70% Foolish Odetta (Character) $6.0M 1999
No Score Yet No Score Yet Lily in Winter Maize Covington (Character) - 1994
25% 36% The Meteor Man Mrs. Reed (Character) $8.0M 1993
No Score Yet No Score Yet Up Against the Wall Louise Bradley (Character) - 1991
No Score Yet No Score Yet Menu for Murder Marty Hallard (Character) - 1990
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Young Landlords Unknown (Character) - 1983
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Moneychangers Mrs. Euphrates (Character) - 1976
No Score Yet 21% Sweet Jesus, Preacher Man Beverly Solomon (Character) - 1973

TV

Credit
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Jennifer Hudson Show Guest 2024
84% 72% Grey's Anatomy Joyce Ward (Guest Star) 2022
No Score Yet 12% Generation Gap Guest 2022
No Score Yet No Score Yet Soul of a Nation Self 2022
No Score Yet 82% Young Sheldon Doris (Guest Star) 2021
99% 89% One Day at a Time Mrs. Jones (Guest Star) 2020
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Talk Guest 2019
No Score Yet 73% The Neighborhood Miss Simpson (Guest Star) 2019
No Score Yet 83% NCIS Rosie Brown (Guest Star) 2018
44% 67% Rel Miss Jenkins (Guest Star) 2018
No Score Yet 93% Station 19 Edith (Guest Star) 2018
92% 56% black-ish Mabel (Guest Star) 2017-2018
No Score Yet 72% The Thundermans Unknown (Guest Star) 2018
87% 92% The Carmichael Show Francis (Guest Star) 2016-2017
88% 87% Trial & Error Mrs. Kratt (Guest Star) 2017
No Score Yet No Score Yet Teachers Mrs. Potts (Guest Star) 2017
94% 81% This Is Us George's Dining Companion (Guest Star) 2017
No Score Yet No Score Yet Gay for Play Game Show Starring RuPaul Unknown (Guest Star) 2016
77% 66% American Horror Story Cassie Royale (Guest Star) 2015
No Score Yet 89% Hot in Cleveland Marcia (Guest Star) 2015
93% 72% Scandal Rose (Guest Star) 2015
90% 98% Southland Granny (Guest Star) 2012
No Score Yet No Score Yet Tyler Perry's House of Payne Florence Johnson (Guest Star) 2011
No Score Yet No Score Yet Back to the Grind Self 2007
No Score Yet 95% Cold Case Unknown (Guest Star) 2005
No Score Yet 85% ER Cherise Barnes (Guest Star) 2005
9% No Score Yet Listen Up Unknown (Guest Star) 2004
No Score Yet No Score Yet Passions Unknown (Character) 2004
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Hughleys Unknown (Guest Star) 1998-2002
No Score Yet 82% The King of Queens Unknown (Guest Star) 2002
No Score Yet No Score Yet Judging Amy Unknown (Guest Star) 2001
No Score Yet No Score Yet Touched by an Angel Unknown (Guest Star) 2000
No Score Yet No Score Yet Martial Law Unknown (Guest Star) 1999
No Score Yet 93% Martin Unknown (Guest Star) 1995
43% No Score Yet Burke's Law Unknown (Guest Star) 1995
No Score Yet No Score Yet A Different World Unknown (Guest Star) 1993
No Score Yet No Score Yet 227 Mary Jenkins (Character) 1985-1990
No Score Yet No Score Yet Super Password Guest 1986
No Score Yet No Score Yet The Jeffersons Florence Johnson (Character),
Florence Johnston (Guest Star),
Writer
1975-1985
No Score Yet No Score Yet Barney Miller Mrs. McBee (Guest Star) 1975