Helen Willis

The television series The Jeffersons featured several supporting characters. An incomplete list of these characters appears below.

Helen Willis (née Douglas) (portrayed by Roxie Roker, except for her first appearance in All in the Family, when she was portrayed by Kim Hamilton) is Louise's best friend and George's worst nightmare. She has been married to Tom Willis for 34 years. Tom is white, and Helen is black, which was a renowned aspect of the show. George, disliking racially mixed-marriages, constantly called both Helen and Tom "zebra" or "chocolate and vanilla". Helen often strikes back by calling him "shorty." As well, George enjoys calling Tom "honky", but he learned to get along with the two in later years during the sitcom. In the fourth season, Helen works with Louise as volunteers at a social service facility called "The Help Center", which opened in 1977. There is also a mention that she and Louise were the editors of the center's newsletter, a post the two decide to share after the drama of episode 67. Helen and Tom have two children: Jennifer "Jenny" Willis (Berlinda Tolbert) and Allan Willis (Jay Hammer and Andrew Rubin).

Thomas "Tom" Willis (portrayed by Franklin Cover, except for his first appearance in All in the Family, when he was portrayed by Charles Aidman as Louis Willis) is an author and president of his publishing company, Pelham Publishers. He lives a content life with his wife Helen. Tom is white and Helen is black. Because of this racial mixing, they are often the butt of George's insults and jokes - often being called such things as "Chocolate" and "Vanilla". Tom and Helen, however, have both learned to ignore the bigotry of their neighbor. In their initial appearance on the parent show Tom states that they had met "his" kind—black and white—and they always handled it. His daughter, Jenny Willis (who is the one most resembling her mother in skin color cases), marries George's son, Lionel, in 1976. He develops a strong relationship with Jenny, but was never close to his "white" son, Allan Willis (Jay Hammer) because he never finished school and left New York City and stayed in Paris for two years.

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