Esther Rolle

Rolle died in Los Angeles, California due to complications from diabetes. She was recently in The Notebook, which was directed by her son, Nick Cassavetes. After Good Times, she starred in a number of made-for-television movies and feature films, including Driving Miss Daisy, A Raisin in the Sun, and My Fellow Americans. In recent years she has appeared in Paulie and in Mira Nair's HBO movie, Hysterical Blindness. The daughter of Bahamian immigrants, Rolle was born in Pompano Beach, Florida and attended Spelman College. She starred in The Neon Bible. Esther Rolle (November 8, 1920 - November 17, 1998) was an American actress, best known for her role as Florida Evans, the character she played on two successful 1970s sitcoms: Maude and its spinoff, Good Times. Teaming with her husband, writer and director John Cassavetes, Rowlands starred in many productions, including Staccato, A Child Is Waiting, Faces, Gloria (nomination for Academy Award for Best Actress), Love Streams, Minnie and Moskowitz, She's So Lovely, Two Minute Warning and A Woman Under the Influence (Academy Award nomination).

In 1961 she starred in the well-received television series 87th Precinct, and in 1964 in Peyton Place. She starred in several anthology television series, including Robert Montgomery Presents, Kraft Television Theatre and Studio One, among many others. Rowlands appeared in Broadway in the late 1950s, and made her film debut in The High Cost of Loving in 1958. Her father was a state Assemblyman.

Born Virginia Cathryn Rowlands in Cambria, Wisconsin, she attended the University of Wisconsin. Gena Rowlands (born June 19, circa 1930) is an American actress.