By Darlene Donloe
Contributing Writer
LOS ANGELES — Marla Gibbs’ decades-long career is the foundation for her poignant memoir, “It’s Never Too Late,” available now via Amistad Books.
The book finds Gibbs reflecting on her life and career, including her iconic roles as Florence Johnston on “The Jeffersons” and Mary Jenkins on “227.”
Those roles cemented her status as a television staple.
Regina King, who played Gibbs’ daughter, Brenda, on “227,” wrote the foreword to the book.
“To speak of Marla Gibbs is to speak of endurance, brilliance and unwavering purpose,” King wrote. “It is to honor a woman who didn’t just defy the odds once but time and again, bringing her community with her every step of the way.”
“Regina will always be my daughter,” said Gibbs, who has also maintained a friendship with Hal Williams, who played her husband, Lester Jenkins, on “227,” and Jackee Harry, who played the sassy neighbor Sandra Clark.
Gibbs, now 94, was in her 40s when she landed the role of Florence on “The Jeffersons,” a character she played for all 11 seasons of the series, which ran 1975-1985.
“I loved playing Florence,” Gibbs said. “My mother’s friend had maids, and they were a lot like Florence, so that’s how I developed the character. Those women were feisty. They seemed to be running the households. I didn’t know any other kind of maids. Florence Johnston is the gift that keeps on giving.”
Gibbs’ memoir unfolds with disarming intimacy, its pages turning like those of a deeply personal diary.
Her life story is a testament to her unwavering resolve, tracing her trajectory from a troubled upbringing to her emergence as a Hollywood icon.
“Being a celebrity sometimes was overwhelming,” she said.
Gibbs, whose real name is Margaret Gibbs, writes candidly about her struggles with abuse and resilence, including living in an “unsafe” home when she was growing up, an abortion, a suicide attempt, an abusive boyfriend from whom she became pregnant, a physically and mentally abusive 18-year marriage to her husband, Buddy; a brain aneurism; a stroke; career highs and lows; fighting for fair pay and creative control, an affair with a married man who was famous in his own right, and being a single mother raising three children, Angela, Joey and Dorian.
Gibbs said her upbringing motivated her to be a more nurturing parent, a “different kind of mother.”
She talks a lot about being a single mother constantly trying to make ends meet.
“I did everything I could to not repeat generational patterns,” Gibbs said. “I did everything I could to stay close to my children, emotionally and physically — at the risk of overdoing it at some point. Mothers sometimes hold on too tight, and sometimes not tight enough.”
After doing “the best I could,” Gibbs said she got some great results.
“I took my first acting classes as a way to bond more with my daughter in her teen years,” Gibbs said. “Doing an activity we were both interested in — that was financially affordable — was just what we needed. It paid off for our relationship, our family, and my personal sense of well-being.”
“She was and is a fabulous mother,” said her daughter, Angela Gibbs, who is also a director, writer, acting coach, and actress (“Chicago Med,” “Hacks,” “9-1-1:Lone Star,” “Not Dead Yet,” “Station 19,” “Cleopatra Jones,” “The Young Nurses,” “Sanford and Son”). “My mother is big on family. She taught us that.
“I think it came from her not having a family and not having that love,” Angela Gibbs added. “She also taught me that women, on their own, are powerful. She also taught me about forgiveness. I think that’s why we gravitate around her, because we know she’s loved. She is love in a body.”
“The greatest lesson I learned is that you have to forgive people because they’re doing exactly what they’re supposed to do,” Marla Gibbs said. “I learned that forgiveness is the key to joy, freedom, and personal peace.”
Gibbs said she had no interest in writing a memoir, believing there was nothing remarkable about her life. It was the people around her who prompted her to write the book.
“Everybody was starting to say, ‘You need to write a book,’ and I kept saying, about what?” Gibbs said. “I didn’t think anything in my life was important enough to go in a book.”
Once she started writing the book, memories flooded in. Gibbs said the hardest part to write about was overcoming the trauma of her childhood.
With unflinching candor, Gibbs, a Chicago native, recounts her formative years in a “loveless house,” marked by an absent mother and an emotionally unavailable grandmother who directed her loving attention to Gibbs’ older sister, leaving Gibbs with an aching sense of emotional isolation and a deep-seated yearning for love and acceptance.
“That’s not something you survive,” Gibbs said. “What happens is, something comes along. And then you don’t think about it anymore because you have something new to think about. Something that you like. If I had known that all the love I didn’t get as a child, I would get now, I wouldn’t have been fretting at all. People actually tell me, ‘We love you, Marla.’”
With a career spanning 50 years, Gibbs has captivated audiences on screen and stage. It started when she migrated from Detroit to Los Angeles in 1969.
Gibbs got gigs here and there, but it was her role as Florence Johnston on “The Jeffersons” that made her a star.
From “The Jeffersons,” Gibbs next starred on “227,” where she broke barriers for Black artists by making history as the first woman and Black person to executive produce and star in her own television series.
“I didn’t realize that I was the first,” Gibbs said. “When they told me, I thought they were kidding. When you’re busy doing something, you’re not thinking about fame or your own position. You’re thinking about how to make it real and relevant. That takes up a lot of time.”
Gibbs, who will be 95 in June, remains active, appearing regularly on TV in guest roles. She recently appeared on “The Upshaws,” “Will Trent” and “Chicago Med.”
In the 1990s, Gibbs, a beloved, cherished community fixture, was known for creating jobs, preserving jazz and nurturing artistic careers. Her Leimert Park businesses reflected her commitment to the community.
Gibbs’ dedication to her community extends far beyond her on-screen presence.
Her impact on Leimert Park is further cemented by her inclusion as one of the Leimert Park cultural icons on a mural by Sei Shimura, recently unveiled at the Vision Theatre Performing Arts Center.
The mural celebrates influential figures who have shaped the neighborhood’s cultural identity. Notably, Gibbs once owned the Vision Theatre itself, and as a entrepreneur, she and her daughter, Angela, also operated the community theater company, Crossroads Arts Academy and Theatre, and the now-defunct jazz club, Marla’s Memory Lane Jazz and Supper Club.
A five-time Emmy-nominated actress, Gibbs enjoyed working to make people happy.
“I also worked to make myself happy,” she said. “I’m happy when I’m achieving things. I like to set goals and achieve them.”
In her 10 decades on earth, Gibbs said one of the most important things she has learned is “If we keep our faith and stay with God, we can achieve almost anything.”
“I still have to remind myself that it’s never too late,” she said. “I’ve learned that life is not a destination. We never get ‘there.’”
Darlene Donloe is a freelance reporter for Wave Newspapers who covers South Los Angeles. She can be reached at ddonloe@gmail.com
