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Mjcpr
2/10/2006, 07:16 PM
RIP honky-face.

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/10/obit.cover.ap/vert.cover.ap.jpg

Franklin Cover, neighbor to 'The Jeffersons,' dead

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Franklin Cover, who became a familiar face as George and Louise Jefferson's white neighbor in the long-running TV sitcom "The Jeffersons," has died, his publicist said Thursday. He was 77.


Cover died of pneumonia Sunday at the Lillian Booth Actor's Fund of America home in Englewood, New Jersey, said publicist Dale Olson. He had been living at the home since December 2005 while recuperating from a heart condition.


In his nearly six decades in show business, Cover made numerous appearances on television shows, including "The Jackie Gleason Show," "All in the Family," "Who's the Boss?" "Will & Grace," "Living Single," "Mad About You" and "ER."


He began his career on the stage, appearing in Shakespeare's "Hamlet" and "Henry IV," and later in numerous Broadway productions, including "Any Wednesday," "Wild Honey and "Born Yesterday."


But Cover was best known for his role as Tom Willis, who was in an interracial marriage with a black woman, in "The Jeffersons."


He and his wife lived in the same "deluxe apartment building" that George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) moved his family to after making money in the dry-cleaning business. There, Cover often played a comic foil to Hemsley's blustering, opinionated black businessman. The show ran from 1975 to 1985.


Cover also appeared in several films, including "The Great Gatsby," "The Stepford Wives" and "Wall Street."


He is survived by his widow, Mary, a son and a daughter.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/02/10/obit.cover.ap/index.html

BeetDigger
2/10/2006, 08:00 PM
Yeah, on the show he was married to a black woman. Pretty scandalous for its time.

He's gone to "a Deeeeluxxxx apartment in the skyyyyyyyy"

TUSooner
2/10/2006, 09:33 PM
I remember a scene on the Jeffersons where they were at the Jeffersons' church and the preacher was getting everybody all stoked up and Tom yells "Hear! Hear!" in the middle of all the "amens." Everybody stopped and looked at him and he says, "I'm an EPISCOPALIAN!"

OK, so I guess he didn't get too many good lines....

AllAboutThe'O'
2/11/2006, 01:19 AM
Yeah, on the show he was married to a black woman. Pretty scandalous for its time.

He's gone to "a Deeeeluxxxx apartment in the skyyyyyyyy"
He's also going to be reunited with Mrs. Willis, a.k.a. Roxie Roker, a.k.a. Lenny Kravitz's mom, who passed away a few years ago.
Which leaves only Sherman Hemsley (George) and Paul Benedict (Mr. Bentley) as the main Jeffersons characters still with us. I think the actors that played Ralph the doorman and Charlie the bartender are still living, too. I'm not counting the actors that played Lionel and Jenny because they were younger than the others.

Mjcpr
2/11/2006, 10:37 AM
He's also going to be reunited with Mrs. Willis, a.k.a. Roxie Roker, a.k.a. Lenny Kravitz's mom, who passed away a few years ago.
Which leaves only Sherman Hemsley (George) and Paul Benedict (Mr. Bentley) as the main Jeffersons characters still with us. I think the actors that played Ralph the doorman and Charlie the bartender are still living, too. I'm not counting the actors that played Lionel and Jenny because they were younger than the others.

The maid is still alive....Florence. You can see about the others here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072519/

AllAboutThe'O'
2/12/2006, 01:57 AM
The maid is still alive....Florence. You can see about the others here:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0072519/
Geez, (slaps palm on forehead) how could I forget Florence?