Black Arts and Culture

Hollywood Icon Shares Highs, Lows, Life Lessons In Her New Book

A new memoir, It’s Never Too Late, captures Marla Gibbs’s highs and lows—from breaking barriers on The Jeffersons to receiving her flowers at 94—and shows how perseverance, fair pay, and creativity paved her path.

By Simone Cooper
Special to the NewJournal and Guide

There is a new memoir in bookstores across the nation that offers lessons on perseverance, self-empowerment, resilience, and courage from a Hollywood trailblazer.

Best known for her roles as Florence on The Jeffersons, and the matriarch, Mary, on the series, 227, five-time Emmy-nominated actress Marla Gibbs bestows several teachable moments in It’s Never Too Late: A Memoir. The 94-year-old television icon who still wears many hats—mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and now author—pulls back the curtain on her decades-long career and recounts her early struggles, achievements, and impact on the entertainment industry.

“It’s really something to receive your flowers while you’re here,” Gibbs says. “It’s a bit surreal and beautiful and, let me tell you, sometimes a little overwhelming.” After a few moments of reflection, she adds, “And I’m living proof that if you’re still breathin’, honey, you can be achievin’.”

While Hollywood has a long-standing reputation for perpetuating ageism and racism which present obstacles for Black women in the entertainment industry, both creatively and financially, Gibbs reveals how she successfully navigated the dynamics of “Tinsel Town” over the course of her career. After what began with an unexpected star turn on The Jeffersons upon delivering the famous line, “Well, how come we overcame and nobody told me?,” Gibbs’s career evolved into one that would open doors for future generations. By breaking down barriers and negotiating for fair pay, access, and creative authority, her tenacity paid off for herself and her colleagues. Her hard-fought battle for executive producer privileges on 227 is the stuff of legends and laid the foundation for Black female powerbrokers like Shonda Rhimes, Issa Rae, Quinta Brunson, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, and Lena Waithe.

An eight-time NAACP Image Award winner, Gibbs continues to receive prestigious honors, including Essence magazine’s Woman of the Year and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In recent years, she released an original jazz album, which, like her memoir, is entitled It’s Never Too Late—a motto by which she lives—and a reminder that reinvention and success can occur at any age.