Marla Gibbs, 94: ‘I Hope There’s Never a Point Where I Stop Working’

Marla Gibbs told me she can’t really walk, yet here she is walking. Admittedly, she has to balance herself on furniture as she slowly moves across the entryway of her house in the Inglewood neighborhood of Los Angeles, taking a seat at the head of her dining table. The 94-year-old actress, best known as the mouthy maid Florence Johnston on The Jeffersons — a spinoff of All in the Family that became its own smash sitcom running 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985—is finally ready to talk about it all.

Gibbs has already excavated her entire life on and off the screen for her memoir It’s Never Too Late, out February 24. There, she covers her loveless childhood in the Midwest, an abusive marriage, her flight to Los Angeles, her kids (including Angela Gibbs, a Hollywood success story in her own right and the reason Marla started acting), her other beloved show 227, and why she still loves to work. (For example, she recently guest-starred with her daughter Angela in an episode of the NBC drama Chicago Med.) So she was happy to dish about her long and fruitful life to me and AARP.

Early spunk

My older sister was my grandmother’s favorite, and she gave her candy. But if I asked for something, she’d say there wasn’t any more. I knew there was more, so I’d say “Yes, there is.” Then I’d get my butt whipped.

Humor as defense

I was knock-kneed and pigeon-toed, and the other kids would make fun of me, but I’d just laugh with them. So I wasn’t fun to make fun of. That ended it.

From Margaret to Marla

When I got the job on The Jeffersons, I thought about the stars’ names like Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. My given name, Margaret, seemed like too many syllables to me. Marla — I just like that name.

Keeping her day job after snagging The Jeffersons gig

It felt good, but you never know what’s going to happen with a TV show. I had been a reservation agent at United Airlines for more than 10 years at that point. I got unlimited passes, and I thought, I’m not giving them up. So I stayed at United a couple more years.

Lights, camera, action

Sherman Hemsley [who played George] was so quiet when I first did a reading with him, I thought, Boy, is that all that he’s going to give me? [Laughs] But when those cameras came on, a whole other man showed up.

Wisdom from a mom of three

To be a parent, you remember what you didn’t have as a child, and you remember what you wanted. And then you try to give that to your children.

How to let go

God says forgive. When you do, it erases it. You’re free of it. When I left my abusive husband, I fixed the house up for his girlfriend, and I left everything I thought she would need. So I wasn’t doing anything to anybody. I was just taking myself out of there.

Work is life

As long as I’m working, I’m feeling like 30. I hope there’s never a point where I stop working. If I do, it’ll be time for me to make the transition.