Styled by Zerina Akers
Marla Gibbs has always been on the right side of history—from her role as Florence Johnston on the groundbreaking sitcom The Jeffersons to advocating for a Black woman to hold the highest office in the nation one day. “I hope to see a Black woman president in my lifetime,” says Gibbs, 93, reflecting on her desire for the world that future barrier-breakers like herself will live in. “We didn’t get it this time, but I think next time we might.”
Gibbs’s dream for the Black girls who will follow her should come as no surprise. Black women have been a cornerstone of her career—both as inspirations and as allies on her acting journey, which began in the early 1970s. In fact, retracing the steps of the Black actresses who came before her gave Gibbs her first big break, in a community workshop at the Performing Arts Society of Los Angeles (PASLA). “There was a young lady named Ta-Tanisha, who starred in Room 222, whom we admired so much—and she went to that workshop,” Gibbs says. “So my daughter Angela and I wanted to go, because she went there. Angela is also an actress, and it turned out to be the best decision we could have made. We started at PASLA, and then we went to Mafundi Institute when PASLA was ending. And at Mafundi, we found out about Margaret Avery’s workshop and decided we wanted to try that, because they’d just won an award for Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie? We wanted to know if we were as good as they were.”
It was at that workshop that Gibbs met screenwriter and director Ted Lange and began acting in his plays. She’d later appear in his 1977 film Passing Throughand on the popular TV series The Love Boat, in which he starred. It was also at Mafundi that she found out about auditions for the Norman Lear TV show that would change her life.
At the time of the casting call, Gibbs was represented by Ernestine McClendon, an actress and comedian who was also the first Black theatrical agent in New York City—and one of the first talent agents to take on Black entertainers as clients. “While I was with her, she decided that her clients were not being seen the way they should be. So she wrote a letter to The Hollywood Reporter, complaining that her actors were treated like revolving doors, in and out, and never really considered,” Gibbs recalls. “After she wrote that letter, everybody wanted to see her people. So I went in for The Jeffersons and did an audition, and it was the first time they paid attention to me. I had been there a couple of times before, but it was like I wasn’t even in the room. But this time, they were paying attention. The casting agent had me try out twice. And then she took me over to the producers and said, ‘Do what you did in the office.’ So I did what I did in the office, and I had the job.”
Gibbs, who was 44 years old when she landed the role of Johnston, earned five Primetime Emmy Award nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She also won multiple NAACP Image Awards for her portrayal of George and Weezy’s wisecracking housekeeper. She played the role for 11 seasons of what became one of the longest-running sitcoms in history.
“Before The Jeffersons, you didn’t see Black people on TV that much. It was kind of rare. So just the idea that you were auditioning for something to be on television—the people that I grew up with were shocked.”
— Marla Gibbs
Gibbs has nothing but fond memories of her time on the show, especially because it was such a disruption to the status quo. “It was awesome, because we weren’t expecting it,” she says. “Before The Jeffersons, you didn’t see Black people on TV that much. It was kind of rare. So just the idea that you were auditioning for something to be on television—the people that I grew up with were shocked.” Musing on how the medium has evolved, she notes, “You cannot turn on the TV now without seeing a Black person. It’s impossible.”
And Gibbs is one of them. Her acting credits run up to the present day, with a role in the third season of the ABC police procedural Will Trent, which premiered in January. In recent years, she has also guest-starred on Scandal, This is Us, Black-ish, A Black Lady Sketch Show, Grey’s Anatomy and The Ms. Pat Show. In 2021, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And two years later, she announced plans to release a memoir, aptly titled It’s Never Too Late.
Now, as the kind of legend she once looked up to, Gibbs remains tuned in to the Black women who have followed in her comedic footsteps on-screen. “I’m a fan of a lot of the actresses today, especially Tiffany Haddish, Tisha Campbell and Tichina Arnold,” she says. Gibbs worked with Campbell and Arnold on Martin in 1995, and with the latter again on The Neighborhood. “I hope that they picked up that I love them,” she says of the Black women entertainers she has inspired over her 50-plus-year career.
Styled by Zerina Akers
Beyond the accolades she has received as an actress, Gibbs’s greatest hope is that she has left behind a legacy of love. “That’s what God wants us to do, love each other, because we’re all one,” she says. “No matter what we look like, we’re still one.”
CREDITS:
Photographed by Kanya Iwana
Styled by Zerina Akers
Marla Hair: Ray Christopher
Marla Makeup: Sage White using MAC Cosmetics
Nails: Temeka Jackson using The GelBottle & Tammy Taylor Nails at A-Frame
Set Design: Priscilla Lee
Tailor: Shirlee Idzakovich
Photography Assistants: Sebastian Johnson & Sandy Rivera
Digital Technician: Aron Norman
Fashion Assistant: Dre Romero
Set Assistant: Adam Quinn
Production by The Morrison Group
Production Manager: Cecilia Alvarez Blackwell
Production Assistants: Aaliyah Henderson & Frankie Benkovic
Post Production: Samantha Nandez
Location: Apache Studios
Special Thanks: Pickles & Peas Food Truck