Marla Gibbs

Marla Gibbs (born Margaret Theresa Bradley; June 14, 1931) is an American actress, singer, comedian, writer and television producer, whose career spans seven decades. Gibbs is known for her role as George Jefferson's maid, Florence Johnston, in the CBS sitcom, The Jeffersons (1975–1985), for which she received five nominations for Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. Gibbs also starred in the show's spin-off Checking In (1981) and the NBC sitcom, 227 (1985–1990); Gibbs co-produced the latter series, played the lead role of Mary Jenkins, and sang the theme song. Gibbs has won seven NAACP Image Awards. In later years, Gibbs played supporting roles in films The Meteor Man (1993), Lost & Found (1999), The Visit (2000), The Brothers (2001), Madea's Witness Protection (2012), Grantham & Rose (2015), and Lemon (2017) and the Shondaland produced TV shows Station 19 (2018) and Grey's Anatomy (2022). In August 2021, Gibbs began a run as Olivia Price on the NBC daytime drama, Days of Our Lives. Marla Gibbs was born Margaret Theresa Bradley in Chicago, Illinois at Cook County Hospital. The middle of three sisters, Gibbs was raised in the Bronzeville neighborhood on the city's south side. Her father, Douglas Bradley, a native of Waterproof, Louisiana (d. 1947) was a self-taught mechanic who owned an ice company. Her mother, Ophelia Birdie (née Kemp; d. 1967) was a businesswoman who occasionally ran numbers in the gambling trade. In 1936, Gibbs's parents divorced, with her mother remarrying Charles Cady and relocating to Detroit, Michigan. Gibbs and her siblings remained in Chicago with their father and grandmother Hattie Sims. Gibbs attended Corpus Christi Elementary School, graduating in 1945.