Lenny Kravitz's mother played the part of Helen on the TV sitcom "The Jeffersons."
Art Imitating Lenny Kravitz's Life
Lenny Kravitz ace rocker, was born in 1964 to the lovely actress Roxie Roker, and her husband Sy Kravitz. And while Roxie would eventually earn a Tony nomination, and do some off-Broadway work, she is best known as the upstairs neighbor Helen Willis, in the 1970s hit, The Jeffersons. One of the first mainly black television comedies, it was a spinoff of that American redneck bigot hit, All in the Family.
The main characters on The Jeffersons, were a black couple who achieved success through the husband's business, and so "moved on up", to the richer life. In that move, to an upper scale condo building, they acquired neighbors who were an inter-racial couple, the Willis'. Roxie Roker, as Helen Willis, was adept at cutting down that little shrimp George Jefferson, who was none to pleased to have the white Tom Willis (Franklin Cover) popping into his life all the time.
The mixed marriage of Kravitz's parents, lasted 23 years. His mother Roxie, died in 1995 of breast cancer. The deterioration prior to her death, affected him deeply, and on his 1998 album titled simply "5", he recorded the track "Thinking of You" in her memory.
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