Being the first African American teenager on television was an amazing moment for BernNadette Stanis – it gave her an opportunity to entertain millions.
Yet, behind the dazzling ”Thelma” performance lied a harrowing chapter of her life…
Not long ago, the actress opened up about an extremely painful experience she endured.
I can’t be the only one who loved the 70s family sitcom Good Times? And who could forget BernNadette Stanis, who played the blossoming daughter Thelma?
The Brooklyn-born actress paved the way for generations of Black women as she starred in television’s first African American two-parent family sitcom.
As the first African American teenager on television, Bern Nadette Stanis experienced an incredible milestone and entertained millions.
But, being the first, isn’t always easy.
Stanis portrayed a perky, perfect 16-year-old in the series, but she was actually 20 years old when shooting began. During her audition, Stanis was simply seeking a short-term summer job – she had no idea the role would change her life.
Suddenly, she found herself on a flight with a one-way ticket to Hollywood. At the time, she was attending classes at the Juilliard School of Music in New York and dreaming of a career as a singer or dancer.
”I wasn’t ready to leave school,” Stanis said in a 1975 interview with The Gaffney Ledger. ”They gave me a week to make up my mind. I decided I might as well work at being a performer instead of studying to be one.”
Set in a public housing project in Chicago, the show centered around the Evans family, particularly focusing on parents James and Florida Evans as they navigated the challenges of urban life while raising their three children.
The series has been called the first sitcom to break racial stereotypes.
”We brought to the world how poor, struggling black people who have morals make choices and improve their lives,” Stanis told The News Journal in 2007.
In the sitcom, Thelma was a very bright and beautiful girl who took education very seriously, viewing it as a means to support her family.
Many men had a crush on her back in the 70’s, and Stanis has also been described as TV’s first African-American sex symbol. It’s an epithet that may not always be that flattering, but Stanis has no issue with it.
”I wasn’t aware of it at the time… Now, I am so happy, so proud I made a mark,” she says.
In many ways, Stanis found it easy to portray the role of Thelma. There were similarities between her and the character in the series.
”A lot of me was in that character because I was the little girl born and raised in Brownsville, New York. Growing up in the projects, I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to be that good girl until I was married. I wanted to do everything the right way. I was very close to my mother and all of that was in that character. Thelma was feisty, too, like me,” Stanis said.
As a child, Stanis struggled with her self-confidence. Once, she almost backed out of a beauty pageant due to inner doubts. She even tried to get out of the competition by faking an asthma attack.
“I moved like a snail,” Stanis recalled and added: “I was hoping the pageant would be over when I got there.”
However, her mother refused to let her daughter be governed by fear and convinced her to participate. At the beauty contest, there was a manager in the audience with connections at CBS, and upon seeing Stanis, he urged her to audition for Good Times.
Talk about timing and fate.
”What that experience taught me was this: Don’t let fear stop you from walking into your destiny,” Stanis said in 2015.
Couldn’t speak for months
As many of you might have guessed, Stanis came from humble beginnings. She grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a two-room apartment as the eldest of five siblings. In interviews, the Good Times star often talks about how much she loved her parents, who always supported her wholeheartedly throughout her upbringing.
“(My mother) said, ‘Bern Nadette, one day, the whole world is going to know your name,” Stanis said. “But she didn’t tell me it was gonna be ‘Thelma.”
Portraying Thelma Ann Evans on Good Times catapulted BernNadette Stanis to stardom. Her character was smart, ambitious, and sassy, qualities that resonated with a broad audience, particularly young African-American women.
For Stanis, life after winning the part of Thelma was bittersweet. As a passionate singer and dancer, she had hoped to showcase her talents and incorporate them into her role as Thelma. However, she never got the chance.
During her third year on the popular series, Stanis unfortunately developed an illness that affected her vocal cords, causing her to lose her voice. It was so severe that Stanis had to undergo surgery, and the rehabilitation period was long and challenging. She couldn’t speak for months.
During this difficult time, Stanis turned to God, viewing her illness as a sign from the Lord.
“He had to quiet me down,” she said. “In that, I learned something. I became more sensitive to certain things and I became a writer.”
After seven seasons, Good Times folded and Stanis pursued acting, dance, writing and painting. Unlike many young people who become famous overnight and later encounter problems in life, Bernadette Stanis has fared well.
”I was prepared emotionally, because my parents were very strong parents,” she told Get.tv.
Her father was murdered
Unfortunately, Stanis’s father, George T. Stanislaus, would not live to see everything his daughter achieved in life. He was killed by a youth gang on May 29, 1991, leaving her, her siblings, and her mother Eula to band together even more.
In an episode of The Sally Jessy Raphael Show, Stanis explained the horrific attack that led to her father’s death.
”My dad was murdered. We found out that a group of young fellas, about maybe 16-19, hit him from behind, hit him in his head. And someone reported that they saw him go down and they saw him get right back up because my father had a body of an 19-year-old, he was 66,” Stanis said and continued:
”He came home, it was Saturday and on Sunday he said he had a pain in his eyes, and the next thing we knew he was talking to me and I said ’Daddy, what’s wrong?’ He said he had pain in the back of his head and he went out in a coma.”
”A knife in my heart”
Sadly, Stanis also faced another tragic loss – perhaps triggered by her father’s murder. Not long after the brutal attack on her dad, the family noticed that something wasn’t right with their beloved mother, Eula Stanislaus.
Soon after that, Eula diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, a terrible disease for both the affected individual and their loved ones. Stanis, who was very close to her mother, became her caregiver for 8 years.
“I knew something was going on but it was only slight forgetfulness of things. I really noticed a change when she stopped cooking. She would always order in. Her clothes were not put together the way I knew she could, and her hair was untidy. I decided it was time for my mom to come live with my family and me,” Stanis shared.
Taking care of her struggling mother really took a toll on Stanis. Watching her mother deteriorate to the point where she could no longer recognize her own daughter was just heartbreaking.
One particular event during this time continues to haunt her.
Her mother, who had adored and guided Stanis through her acting career, loved watching Good Times. Sometimes they would watch it together.
“My mother and I were watching the show and she looked at me and she was watching Thelma. She said, ‘You know, that’s the cute little old girl.’ And I realized that she no longer remembered it was me, that I was Thelma. But somewhere in her brain, there was a connection but she couldn’t figure it out.”
”Once she said that to me, it was a knife in my heart. How could she not remember what ‘Good Times’ did for our family? It changed our whole lives…”
A lot of tears
Stanis mother died October 6th, 2011. However, Eula lives on in her memory forever, and through the book ”The Last Night: A Caregiver’s Journey Through Transition and Beyond.”
”My mother and I were going to write our book, our story. The night she passed, I told her, ’It’s not over yet’”.
But putting pen to paper for the book proved to be a huge challenge. Every time she would write a page or so, she could’t finish a paragraph, sentence or thought without crying.
“It took me a long time to write it. i was mourning process as I was writing it. I felt like it had to be shared. So many people are going through the care-giving of a love one and they’re going through it in silence,” she says.
Today, Stanis is a passionate advocate for individuals battling Alzheimer’s disease. She serves as a spokesperson for the national Alzheimer’s Association and has established her own nonprofit, The Remembering the Good Times Foundation. Through her celebrity status, she aims to challenge the stigma surrounding Alzheimer’s disease.
Bernadette Stanis husband
Bern Nadette Stanis has been married four times and is a mother to two daughters.
Her eldest daughter is named Dior, while her youngest is Brittany Rose.
Her first marriage was to her childhood crush, Thomas Fauntleroy. They met when Stanis was 15 and Thomas was 22. Their union lasted from 1974 until 1978.
Stanis then tied the knot with Brooklyn nightclub owner Darnell Johnson in January 1979. After that, Stanis married mechanical engineer Terrence Redd in 1982. She also gave birth to their daughter, Dior Ravel, around April of that year.
Stanis is currently married to her fourth husband, Kevin Fontana. According to a 2012 article, they had been married for 31 years. Fontana fathered Brittany Rose and also raised Dior as his own.
It’s hard to believe, but the young and vibrant teenager from Good Times is now 70 years old. Many of her Instagram followers often remark that Stanis looks like she’s in her 30s or 40s!
Stanis is also a proud grandmother to her daughter Dior’s child, Leto. Who would have thought of Thelma from Good Times as a grandmother?! Nevertheless, Stanis has shared that this is the role she cherishes the most in her extensive and diverse career.
Stanis is absolutely stunning and aging so beautifully and gracefully! She is a beautiful soul in person too. She seems so down to earth and funny – share this story on Facebook if you agree!
They don’t make women like Ms. Stanis anymore from my perspective.
She’s classy, down-to-earth, and beautiful – share this article on Facebook if you agree!
