American actress Roxie Roker played the role of Helen Willis on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons. She is also the mother of rock musician Lenny Kravitz and the paternal grandmother of actress Zoë Kravitz.
Early Life & Education
Roxie Albertha Roker was raised in Brooklyn, New York after being born in Miami, Florida, on August 28, 1929. Her mother, Bessie Roker (formerly Mitchell), was originally from Georgia and worked as a domestic worker.
Her father, Albert Roker, was a porter and hailed from Andros, The Bahamas. While attending Howard University, Roker focused on her passion for drama under the guidance of renowned instructors Anne Cooke Reid and Owen Dodson.
While studying drama at Howard University, she befriended several notable classmates such as novelist Toni Morrison, actress Zaida Coles, and playwright Shauneille Perry.
Together, they were all part of the university’s theatre group called the Howard Players. In 1949, Roker joined the Howard Players on a tour to Norway, which was organized by the United States Department of State and received support from Eleanor Roosevelt.
Roxie Roker’s Acting Career
After starting her professional journey with the Negro Ensemble Company, Roxie Roker achieved great success as a stage performer. In 1974, she received an Obie Award and was also recognized with a Tony Award nomination for her outstanding performance as Mattie Williams in The River Niger.
During the 1970s, she worked as a journalist for WNEW-TV in New York and was the host of a public affairs program called Inside Bed-Stuy, which focused on the happenings in the Brooklyn community.
Roxie Roker‘s role as Helen Willis on The Jeffersons challenged societal norms by featuring her as one-half of the first interracial married couple (alongside actor Franklin Cover) on a regular basis in a prime-time television show.
Throughout the 1970s to the 1990s, she made occasional appearances on various American television shows, such as “Stone in the River” with Hal Miller on NBC, Punky Brewster, Hangin’ with Mr. Cooper, A Different World, Murder, She Wrote, The Love Boat, $weepstake$, 227, Beat the Clock, Fantasy Island, and ABC Afterschool Specials.
Roxie Roker was recognized for her contributions to the community as a children’s advocate and appeared in both the television miniseries Roots and the film Claudine.
Husband & Kids
Sy Kravitz and Roxie Roker crossed paths at 30 Rock, where Roxie worked as an assistant to a prominent NBC executive while also pursuing her passion for Off-Broadway shows.
In his memoir, Lenny recounted how Roxie was initially wary of their relationship due to Sy’s previous marriage to Erika and distant relationship with his two daughters, Laurie and Tedi. To win Roxie’s heart, Sy made an effort to build a connection with his daughters at her suggestion.
In 1962, Roxie Roker tied the knot with Sy Kravitz, a television producer. Similar to her character Helen Willis in The Jeffersons, Roker also had a marriage with a white man of a different race.
Before working in journalism, Sy was a member of the Army’s elite Green Berets and fought in the Korean War. Even after coming back to the US, he continued to serve in the Army Reserve. Sy’s parents, Joe and Jean Kravitz, lived in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, which was a close-knit Russian-Jewish neighborhood.
Together, they had a son named Lenny Kravitz (born on May 26, 1964), who is now a singer, songwriter, and actor. However, the couple divorced in 1985. Additionally, Al Roker, the weather anchor, and Roxie Roker were distant relatives as second cousins once removed.
Death
At the age of 66, Roxie Roker passed away in Los Angeles, California on December 2, 1995, after battling breast cancer.
