Lionel Jefferson

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Lionel Jefferson
Lionel (top) with parents, George and Louise Jefferson.
First appearance"Meet the Bunkers"
(All in the Family)
Last appearance"Sayonara, Pt. 2"
(The Jeffersons)
Portrayed byD'Urville Martin (two unaired pilots)
Jenny Willis
(1976–1985)
ChildrenJessica Jefferson (daughter)
Relatives
  • William T. Jefferson (grandfather)
  • Olivia Jefferson
    (grandmother)
  • Harold Mills (grandfather)
  • Henry Jefferson
    (uncle)
  • Maxine Mills (aunt)
  • Raymond Jefferson (cousin)
  • Jason Mills (cousin)
  • Julie Williams (cousin)

Lionel Jefferson is a

sitcoms All in the Family and The Jeffersons. He is the son of George and Louise Jefferson. He was originally portrayed by D'Urville Martin for two unaired pilots, before the role was recast with Mike Evans. He was later played by Damon Evans (no relation), though Mike Evans eventually returned to the role before the end of the series.[2] Jovan Adepo portrayed the character for the television special Live in Front of a Studio Audience: Norman Lear's All in the Family and The Jeffersons
.

All in the Family

On All in the Family, Lionel was portrayed by

Mike Evans
from 1971 to 1975.

Lionel was born in

Henry
appear more frequently, Lionel's role becomes less significant.

Archie considers himself to be Lionel's good friend and even mentor. For his part, Lionel remains unfazed by Archie's bigotry and unrelenting condescension. Lionel is generally amused, rather than angered or irritated, by Archie's frequent displays of ignorance and bigotry, often seeing Archie's comments as well-meaning, albeit ignorant, rather than outright malicious. As such, Lionel often enjoys patronizing Archie's attitudes by playing dumb in conversations and adopting a stereotypical speech pattern (saying things like "I'm gon' be a 'lectical engineer!" or "Lawd almighty, what is we gonna do?"). Lionel's patience runs out when Archie tells him not to see his niece socially because "white ought to stay with white and colored ought to stay with colored". Lionel finally tells Archie off (albeit calmly), but also lets him know that they can remain friends.

Of those in the Bunker household, Lionel is closest to Archie's son-in-law Michael Stivic. Lionel sometimes loses patience with Michael, feeling that Michael relates to him as a representative of the black community rather than as an individual.

The Jeffersons

All in the Family's

Tom and Helen Willis
). They eventually marry and gave birth to a daughter, Jessica. During the final season of The Jeffersons, Lionel and Jenny announce they are seeking a divorce (after living apart for several years while Lionel worked in Japan).

Mike Evans left The Jeffersons after its first season in order to devote more time to writing for Maude spin-off Good Times, which he had helped create. Damon Evans (no relation to Mike) played the role from the fall of 1975 until early 1978. Mike Evans returned to the series in September 1979 and appeared regularly as Lionel for two more seasons. Evans appeared infrequently after that, and made his final appearance as Lionel in the two-part episode "Sayonara" in 1985.

References

  1. ISBN 9780275995157
    – via Google Books.
  2. ^ "Mike Evans, 57, 'Jeffersons' Actor and a Creator of 'Good Times,' Dies". The New York Times. December 23, 2006 – via NYTimes.com.
  3. ISBN 9780826418296
    – via Google Books.
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