Roxie Albertha Roker (August 28, 1929 – December 2, 1995) was an American actress who portrayed Helen Willis on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons. Roker is the mother of rock musician Lenny Kravitz and paternal grandmother of actress Zoë Kravitz.
Roker studied drama at Howard University where she was a pupil of celebrated drama teachers Anne Cooke Reid and Owen Dodson. Some of her fellow drama students at Howard included novelist Toni Morrison, actress Zaida Coles, stage director and playwright Shauneille Perry, and actor Graham Brown; all of whom were members of the university's theatre troupe, the Howard Players. Roker toured with the Howard Players for performances in Norway in 1949; a trip sponsored by the United States Department of State, which was supported by Eleanor Roosevelt.[4]
Roker was married to television producer Sy Kravitz in 1962. Like her Jeffersons character Helen Willis, Roker had an interracial marriage to a white man.[5] The couple had a son, singer-songwriter and actor Lenny Kravitz (b. May 26, 1964), and divorced in 1985.[3] Weather anchor Al Roker and Roxie Roker were second cousins once removed.[6]
Death
Roker died in Los Angeles, California, on December 2, 1995, of breast cancer. She was 66.[7]
^"Al, Lenny Kravitz discuss being distant cousins". Today. September 2, 2011. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved October 21, 2014. Is Al really related to Lenny Kravitz? Yes! Their grandfathers were cousins, Al said on 'Today' this morning.