Document 6449875

Entertainment
A10 Thursday, November 19, 1998
Actress Esther Rolle dies at 78
Police: Picky silver thief
struck homes of famous
By GREG TOPPO
Associated Press Writer
of New Jersey declined to comment Wednesday.
In his 13-year criminal career,
Nordahl never left fingerprints
and never woke his victims as
he pried or cut window panes
from frames and crept inside,
police said.
"He was very meticulous and
careful about how he entered
the home," said Sgt. Mark
Keenan of Lower Merion Township, Pa., police. "He took a great
amount of time before he went
in."
Nordahl was last arrested in
October 1996 outside a WalMart in Sparta, Wis., on warrants from Greenwich, Conn.
The far-flung cases were consolidated under federal charges in
New York City. Authorities in
New York blamed him for $2.3
million in burglaries in 14
states.
As part of a plea agreement,
Nordahl had admitted to conspiracy to transport stolen
goods in interstate commerce.
He served 20 months in a New
York prison and was released
June 18.
BALTIMORE — A man suspected of breaking into more
than 100 homes — including
Bruce Springsteen's — and
plucking only the best silver
candelabra, goblets, serving
trays and jewelry was charged
Wednesday with possessing
burglary tools.
Police said additional charges
would be filed against Blane
David Nordahl, 36. Prosecutors
say Nordahl stole millions of
dollars of fine silver in 14 states,
including from the homes of
Springsteen, Ivana Trump and
sportscaster Curt Gowdy.
Nordahl was arrested Tuesday in the Baltimore area. He is
suspected of helping himself
since July to more than
$700,000 worth of silver goods
in the area.
"He knew what he wanted,"
said Lt. Jay Fisher. "He knew
the difference between silverplated and solid silver, and
that's all he took."
Nordahl lawyer Robert Eisler
Press-Republican
she said. "I was proud of the
family life I was able to intro^
duce to television."
She left "Good Times" after
three seasons because she^feli
her TV son, played by Jiiflmie
"J.J." Walker as a clownish dh'ar-T
acter with the catchphrase ^ByK
no-mite!," was a poor example'
for black youth. But she waSfser-suaded to return for a year? The.
show ran from 1974 to 1979^' .
After "Good Times," Rolle^ap-.
peared in TV movies, winning an
Emmy for her performance i n
"Summer of My German Soldier."
She was also the movie "Rose:l
wood" last year and played an
Alzheimer's victim in "Down in-,
the Delta," a movie that will '
come out on Christmas.
Rolle was born in Pompano,
Beach, Fla., the 10th of 18 children:
Her father was a vegetable farmer.
Her older siblings wrote - skitst h a t she performed for5 the.
younger children. After 'high,
school, she followed her actress,
sister to New York and landed 1
Broadway roles. She w a s ^ a p pearing in Melvin Van Peebles',
play "Don't Play Us Cbjeap?.
when she won the role as Flprida,
in "Maude."
J-. .
In 1990, she became th&'fifst
• Best known for
her roles on 'Maude'
and 'Good Times'
By MICHAEL FLEEMAN
AP Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES — Esther
Rolle, who played the feisty maid
in the hit 1970s sitcom "Maude"
and the strong-willed mother
who kept her ghetto family together in the spinoff series
"Good Times," has died at 78.
Rolle died Tuesday at a hospital
in Culver
City, her
spokesman Larry Calhoun said.
The cause of death was not determined, but she had diabetes
and was undergoing dialysis, he
said.
Norman Lear, creator of "Good
Times," said he cast Rolle because of her strong presence.
"Wherever she was, you knew
she was there," he said. "The
woman had strong conviction.
We may not have agreed on
everything, but t h a t is what happens when you have two creative
minds at work."
Long a crusader against black
stereotypes in Hollywood, Rolle
was nevertheless best remembered in the role of a maid, and
her stout build and stern demeanor reminded some of the
"Mammy" roles of an earlier generation of movies.
Her character Florida Evans
erect to portray China's dowager
was Bea Arthur's maid in
empress.
As Buck, Harper speaks in a "Maude" and a maid in "Good
Southern accent and as Buck's Times," about a family strugmissionary mother, the accent is gling to make ends meet in ineven more Southern. Probably the ner-city Chicago.
Rolle also played a servant in
least successful accent is Will
Rogers', as she quotes from his the TV movie "Summer of My
newspaper article urging people German Soldier," a retired maid
in the play "A Raisin in the Sun"
to read "The Good Earth."
Harper and co-writer Dyke Gar- and a long-suffering housekeeprison ease along the facts of er in the film "Driving Miss
Buck's life by using telephone Daisy."
She told The Associated Press
conversations. And director Rob
Ruggiero keeps Harper moving. in 1987 that she was intent on
His direction is neither static nor shattering the image of a "Hollywood maid with the rolling of the
too busy.
The one big fault with "All Un- eyes" who doted on her white
der Heaven" is that the cliffhang- charges b u t ignored her own
er ending Act 1 — as Buck and children. Being a maid, she said,
her sister hide from a Chinese was a reality for black Amerimob — isn't explained in Act 2.
How did they survive? The play
doesn't say.
woman to receive the
Valerie Harper portrays Pearl Buck
By MARY CAMPBELL
Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — Actress Valerie
Harper has co-written a onewoman play about author Pearl
Buck and performs the work with
an impressive array of accents at
off-Broadway's Century Theater.
Harper portrays Buck and some
20 people in her life in "All Under
Heaven," which opened Monday.
."White-gray hair pulled back to a
knot, Harper presents Buck at age
79 in 1972, the year before her
death, in her home office in Danby,
Vt. Harper doesn't look 79 but her
facial expressions are uncanny.
', Harper uses a different accent
fpr each character. Bending her
back-like a peasant who has carried heavy loads, her accent becomes that of Buck's loving Chinese nanny, in China. It's a much
different accent as she stands
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AP File Photo/CBS
Actress Esther Rolle, the strong-willed mom on the hit television sitcom "Good Times," in 1974. Rolle died Wednesday at age 78.
cans.
When CBS was planning a
"Maude" spinoff series in which
she played a single mother, Rolle
demanded t h a t her family be led
THURSDAY IS SENIOR
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SPECIAL DINNERS $7.79
NAACP
Chairman's Civil Rights Leadership Award for helping raiseHthe
image of blacks.
*"
She is survived by two sisters
and a brother.
<> > .
Funeral arrangements were
incomplete.
by a father. That part went to
John Amos.
"I told theml I couldn't compound t h e he t h a t black fathers
don't care about their children,"
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