Esther RolleFilmography

Down in the Delta

Actors: Alfre Woodard, Al Freeman, Jr., Mary Alice, Esther Rolle, Loretta Devine

Synopsis: Poet Maya Angelou made her feature directorial debut with this African-American family drama, shown theatrically but originally produced for the Showtime cable network. Unemployed single mother Loretta (Alfre Woodward) lives with her mother, Rosa Lynn (Mary Alice), in a Chicago apartment. Drugs Read More

Touched By an Angel: Amazing Grace, Part 2

Synopsis: Originally an episode of the Touched by an Angel spinoff Promised Land, this is the conclusion of a two-part story begun on Angel (and as such is included in the current Angel syndication package. Having been chosen to act as the "eyes" for temporarily inded angel Monica (Roma Downey), young Read More

Rosewood

Actors: Jon Voight, Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Bruce McGill, Loren Dean

Synopsis: Rosewood is the true story of an almost unknown incident in a small Florida town, (fictionalized, but faithful to the known facts, as documented in a 1994 report by the Florida Legislature). The town was inhabited almost entirely by quiet, "middle-class" African- Americans (most of them home and Read More

Touched By an Angel: Amazing Grace, Part 1

Synopsis: In this first episode of a two-part story, Tess (Della Reese) pays a visit to the Greene family, the protagonists of the Touched by an Angel spinoff series Promised Land. She informs Joshua Greene (Austin O'Brien) that God has reserved a special purpose for him, specifically act as the "eyes" for Read More

My Fellow Americans

Actors: Jack Lemmon, James Garner, Dan Aykroyd, John Heard, Everett McGill, Sela Ward

Synopsis: In this comedy, Russell P. Kramer (Jack Lemmon) and Matt Douglas (James Garner) are two former U.S. Presidents who sit on opposite sides of the political fence. Kramer is a stuffy Republican reluctant to part with a dollar, while Douglas is a left-leaning Democrat with an eye for the ladies. Read More

Images & Realities: The African American Family

Synopsis: This program examines the history and traditions of the African-American family and takes a look at contemporary family life, considering stressful situations such as economic pressure, rising health care costs, divorce, and the complications of raising children in a culture where the effects of Read More

Images & Realities: African American Women

Synopsis: This documentary explores the accomplishments and inspirations of African-American women and examines some of the issues they face in contemporary society. The program, hosted by actresses Queen Latifah and Halle Berry, discusses women's efforts to balance work and family, deal with economic Read More

How to Make an American Quilt

Actors: Winona Ryder, Anne Bancroft, Maya Angelou, Ellen Burstyn, Kate Nelligan, Jean Simmons

Synopsis: A young woman at a crossroads in her life finds herself receiving plenty of advice from her older and wiser counterparts in this drama. Finn Dodd (Winona Ryder) is a graduate student trying to finish up her doctoral thesis on women's folk art while deciding if she should marry her fiancé Sam (Dermot Mulroney Read More

To Dance with the White Dog

Synopsis: When an elderly woman dies, she decides to take possession of a stray dog's body so as to keep an eye on her widowed husband in this wonderful tale based on the novel by Terry Kay. ~ Kristie Hassen, All Movie Guide Read More

Danielle Steel's 'Message From Nam'

Synopsis: Another of several made-for-TV movies based on the best-selling novels of Danielle Steel, this one stars Jenny Robertson as Paxton Andrews, a sheltered Southern belle who falls for law student Peter Wilson (Steven Eckholdt) on the campus of Berkeley in the late '60s. After Peter is drafted and Read More

House of Cards

Actors: Kathleen Turner, Tommy Lee Jones, Asha Menina, Shiloh Strong, Esther Rolle

Synopsis: In Michael Lessac's lugubrious House of Cards, women's intuition beats out psychology in the battle against autism. The story begins in Mexico, where a little girl named Sally Matthews (Asha Menina) lives with her parents, scientists studying ancient ruins. When her father falls to his death Read More

Color Adjustment

The Kid Who Loved Christmas

Actors: Trent Cameron

Synopsis: This made-for-TV drama--Sammy Davis, Jr.'s last--stars Trent Cameron as a young orphan who must fight against social workers in order to remain with his adoptive father, a widowed jazzman. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide Read More

Driving Miss Daisy

Actors: Morgan Freeman, Jessica Tandy, Dan Aykroyd, Patti LuPone, Esther Rolle

Synopsis: Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Alfred Uhry, Driving Miss Daisy affectionately covers the twenty-five year relationship between a wealthy, strong-willed Southern matron (Jessica Tandy) and her equally indomitable Black chauffeur Hoke (Morgan Freeman). Both employer and employee are Read More

The Mighty Quinn

Actors: Denzel Washington, Robert Townsend, James Fox, Mimi Rogers, M. Emmet Walsh

Synopsis: Xavier Quinn (Denzel Washington) is police chief of a tiny Caribbean island. Quinn's efforts to straddle the fence between the local blacks and the moneyed whites have lost him the respect of both groups. When a murder is committed, Quinn suspects that the killer is Maubee (Robert Townsend), a Read More

A Raisin in the Sun

Actors: Esther Rolle, Danny Glover

Synopsis: Raisin in the Sun is a 1989 TV adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry's 1959 Broadway play (previously filmed in 1962). An African-American family hopes to use a $10,000 legacy left them by the family's late father to move out of the Chicago projects and into a white neighborhood. Spearheading the move Read More

P.K. and the Kid

Actors: Paul Le Mat, Molly Ringwald, Alex Rocco, Charles Hallahan, John de Santi

Synopsis: Paul Le Mat and Molly Ringwald star in this limp-wristed drama about an arm-wrestling contest. P.K. (Ringwald) runs away from home after her mother's boyfriend Lester (Alex Rocco) continues his unwanted advances. She hitches a ride with The Kid (Paul Le Mat), who is on his way to an annual Read More

Murder, She Wrote: Reflections of the Mind

Synopsis: Ann Blyth guest stars as Franchesca Lodge, an old friend of mystery writer Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury). Recently married to a much-younger man named Scott (Stacey Nelkin), Franchesca has been terrorized of late by what seems to be the ghost of her first husband. Since Franchesca has had a Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Synopsis: Directed by William Woodman, this retelling of the classic Shakespearean tragedy not only features traditional period costumes and sets, but is known for giving the bard's words a style one can understand without being particularly experienced with Elizabethan texts. This popular adaptation Read More

Journey Together

Grand Baby

Synopsis: A new life with his grandmother in the rural South causes changes in a young boy. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

See China and Die

Synopsis: In this detective movie, a maid finally gets her greatest wish and gets to play detective after one of her bosses is murdered. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Actors: Diahann Carroll, Ruby Dee, Esther Rolle, Madge Sinclair

Synopsis: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is based on the writings of African-American poet/playwright Maya Angelou. Though she eventually became America's poet laureate, Angelou was once just another little black girl growing up in Depression-era Arkansas. Her efforts to better herself run up against the Read More

Summer of My German Soldier

Actors: Kristy McNichol

Synopsis: Despite its far-fetched plotline, the made-for-TV Summer of My German Soldier was popular with audiences and critics alike. The film is set in Georgia during World War II. Bruce Davison plays Anton Reiker, a German POW assigned to work at a local farm. Reiker escapes, taking refuge in a barn owned Read More

Good Times: Season 06

Synopsis: Assured that the character played by her co-star Jimmie Walker, brash, budding inner-city artist J.J. Evans, had become more mature and responsible during her year-long absence, actress Esther Rolle agreed to return to the role of J.J.'s mom, Florida Evans, as Good Times launched its sixth season. Read More

Good Times: Season 04

Synopsis: Season four of Good Times marked the first of the series' significant cast changes -- or, to be more precise, cast deletions. Long disenchanted with the way in which the series had devolved from the weekly saga of a poor but indomitable ghetto family into a vehicle for the brash buffoonery of Jimmie Walker Read More

Good Times: Season 03

Actors: Esther Rolle, John Amos, Jimmie "J.J." Walker, BernNadette Stanis, Ralph Carter

Synopsis: By the time Good Times had begun its third season on CBS, the program had pretty much given up being a realistic (albeit basically humorous) depiction of life in the urban ghetto, and had evolved -- or, as some would claim, devolved -- into a vehicle for brash African-American standup comedian Jimmie Walker Read More

Good Times: Season 02

Actors: Esther Rolle, John Amos, Jimmie "J.J." Walker, BernNadette Stanis, Ralph Carter

Synopsis: Having posted good, if not spectacular, ratings during its freshman year on CBS, Good Times was moved from Fridays to a more desirable Tuesday-night time slot as it entered its second season. Beyond an added emphasis on the minor character of usurious inner-city landlord Nathan Bookman (Johnny Brown Read More

Good Times: Season 01

Synopsis: Like so many other Norman Lear-produced efforts, Good Times made its network bow as a mid-season replacement, taking over the Friday-night time slot previously occupied by the failed wartime sitcom Roll Out. Although only Florida Evans (Esther Rolle) was familiar to audiences by virtue of her Read More

Cleopatra Jones

Actors: Tamara Dobson, Bernie Casey, Brenda Sykes, Antonio Fargas, Bill McKinney

Synopsis: Tamara Dobson stars as Cleopatra Jones in Jack Starrett's blaxploitation programmer that, in its own way, deals effectively with the ravages of drugs in inner-city black communities. Cleopatra Jones is a jive female James Bond, a special drug agent for the United States government who wears sleek Read More

Don't Play Us Cheap

Actors: Esther Rolle, Avon Long, Rhetta Hughes

Synopsis: Melvin Van Peebles' first film after his groundbreaking blaxploitation effort Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song was this photographed version of his Broadway musical Don't Play Us Cheap, in which a pair of Satan's helpers, in order to earn their horns, are dispatched to Harlem to crash into (and Read More

Who Says I Can't Ride a Rainbow?

Actors: Kevin Riou, Otis Stephens

Synopsis: This upbeat children's adventure tells the true story of gentle Barney Marcovitz who firmly believes that the world's hope is in the hands of children. Barney manages a pony farm/petting zoo in Greenwich Village so that city kids can sample country life. The trouble begins when the real estate Read More

Nothing But a Man

Actors: Ivan Dixon, Abbey Lincoln, Gloria Foster, Martin Priest

Synopsis: A landmark independent film, Nothing but a Man is the first dramatic story featuring a largely black cast created for an integrated audience (the work of black filmmakers such as Oscar Micheaux was intended for audiences who patronized black-only theaters). White filmmakers Michael Roemer and Read More