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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
1994
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Franklin Edward Cover (November 20, 1928 – February 5, 2006) was an American actor best known for starring in the sitcom The Jeffersons. His character, Tom Willis, was half of one of the first interracial marriages to be seen on prime-time television.
Cover was born on November 20, 1928 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Britta (Schreck) and Franklin Held Cover. He graduated from John Marshall High School in 1947. Cover graduated from Denison University in 1951, and he received his MA in Theater in 1954 and MFA in Theater in 1955 both from Case Western Reserve University.
His career started on the stage acting in Henry IV, Part 1 and Hamlet. He also appeared in Forty Carats with Julie Harris. He made his television debut on Naked City and later appeared on The Jackie Gleason Show.
In 1965, he married Mary Bradford Stone.
His first starring role was on The Jeffersons as Tom Willis who was married to a black woman, Helen, played by Roxie Roker. The couple lived in the same high-rise apartment building as the sitcom's title characters. Cover would often be the foil to Sherman Hemsley's black businessman, George Jefferson. The sitcom ran from 1975 to 1985. He also appeared in The Stepford Wives in 1975, and played Hubert Humphrey in the 1982 TV movie A Woman Called Golda.
Following the end of The Jeffersons, Cover continued to make guest appearances on television shows as well as appearing in a supporting role in Wall Street (1987). In 1994, he appeared in the second episode of ER. His final television appearance was in an episode of Will & Grace (entitled "Object Of My Rejection") that aired on May 13, 1999.
Cover died at the Lillian Booth Actors Home in Englewood, New Jersey, on February 5, 2006. He had been living at the home since December 2005 while recovering from a heart condition, and died of pneumonia. He was survived by his wife; the former Mary Bradford Stone, two adult children; Susan and Bradford, and a grandson, Maxwell. His son, Bradford Cover, an actor who lives in New York City, has appeared on Law and Order, Broadway, and Off Broadway, and is a company member at The Pearl Theatre Company. His daughter Susan is the founder of Susie's Supper Club (now closed), a home delivery food service that catered to parents and children in New York. CLR
Gender
Male
Birthday
November 20, 1928
Died
February 5, 2006
Birthplace
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Also Known As
Wall Street
1987
The Day the Bubble Burst
1982
The Great Gatsby
1974
Short Walk to Daylight
1972
Mirage
1965
The Stepford Wives
1975
Brain Donors
1992
Zits
1988
Almost Heroes
1998
What's So Bad About Feeling Good?
1968
Perry Mason: The Case of the Lethal Lifestyle
1994
A Woman Called Golda
1982
The Connection
1973
Cosmic Slop
1994
Between Time and Timbuktu
1972
Columbo
1971
Batman: The Animated Series
1992
ER
1994
The Love Boat
1977
Will & Grace
1998
Mad About You
1992
Who's the Boss?
1984
All in the Family
1971
Coach
1989
Naked City
1958
227
1985
Living Single
1993
In the Heat of the Night
1988
The Jeffersons
1975
N.Y.P.D.
1967
Hothouse
1988
They Came from Outer Space
1990
Too Something
1995
A Woman Called Golda
1982