Bern Nadette Stanis recalls ‘Good Times’
Star of 1970s sitcom advocates for Alzheimer’s awareness in mom’s honor
Bern Nadette Stanis is best known as Thelma Evans, the smart and pretty tell-it-like-it-is daughter from the 1970s sitcom “Good Times.”
The show, which ran from 1974 to 1979 on CBS and continues in reruns, chronicled the struggles and joys of a black American family in the projects of Chicago.
She’s still acting, having appeared in the second season of the Adult Swim comedy series “Black Jesus” and in the 2016 movie “36 Hour Layover.”
But Stanis has embraced another role, that of an Alzheimer’s advocate.
Five years ago, she founded a nonprofit called Remembering The Good Times Foundation to raise awareness about dementia, something that her mother Eula Stanislaus died from in 2011.
Stanis travels the country and shares her story of caring for her mother. Stanis recently published “The Last Night: A Caregiver’s Journey” about the disease’s impact on her life.
We caught up with Stanis, who will appear at the Funk Fest Miami festival, which runs from 2 to 11 p.m. Jan 1 at Miramar Regional Park, 16801 Miramar Parkway. She will also have a meet-and-greet at Piano Hollywood at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, 5805 Seminole Way, Hollywood, from 6 to 10 p.m. Jan. 2.
Q. It’s been 40 years since “Good Times.” Why do you think the show still resonates with viewers?
A. I think the show was written so realistically in terms of people’s emotions and feelings. It resonates with so many people across the board, understanding about love and family and understanding about the way the black family was in those days.
Q. What do you think the show taught viewers?
A. It taught us about family. It taught us about caring for one another. It taught us that although you may not have a lot of money, you can be rich in love and security.
Q. Was there a lot of you in the Thelma character?
A. 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.
Q. You credit your mom with helping you get cast on the show. How did she help with that?
A. My mother was a strong mother and a very loving mother. She allowed me my expression of creativity. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be in a beauty pageant and she was right behind me. It was my mother pushing me to do what I had to do. Going to the pageant that day, I didn’t want to go. I was afraid. She told me, “You are going, whether you want to or not. You’ve got this far.’ I did not win. I became first runner-up but I did win the role of Thelma. (A manager was there at the pageant who gave her mom a card and suggested she audition for a new show called ‘Good Times.’) It was her wisdom and her pushing me to go that got me there.
Q. How did your mom inspire you to launch Remembering The Good Times Foundation?
A. I started it five years ago when my mom passed away. I said I didn’t want her life or her death to be in vain. I started a foundation in her honor because I found out so much about the disease that she had and that it affects the African American community twice as much as any other community. It was my only way to fight back against the disease that took my mother’s life and made mine so miserable for so many years.