IT'S NEVER TOO LATE

A memoir that proves the author is more than just Florence Johnston.

The title of actor Gibbs’ memoir is apt: She was 44 when she landed the acting gig that would transform her into a national star. Gibbs, who is now 94, tells the story of her life and career in this book that begins with an unsparing look at her difficult childhood in Chicago and Detroit: “My young life was defined by circumstances and people who came into my life to set me back and knock me down, sometimes literally, before I could get on my feet for any length of time.” That includes being partially raised by an emotionally cruel grandmother and being assaulted by one of her mother’s boyfriends. She would go on to marry an abusive man, eventually leaving him and moving to Los Angeles, where she fell in love with acting. Her big break came when she was cast as the sassy maid Florence Johnston in the sitcom The Jeffersons, which premiered in 1975 and ran for 11 seasons. For a while, though, it wasn’t enough to sustain her financially: She kept her job working at United Airlines until she joined with other castmates to negotiate raises. Gibbs had another television hit with the sitcom 227, and her reflections on her show-business experiences are bound to interest pop-culture aficionados. The memoir reads like a lightly edited transcript of Gibbs talking about her life; the timeline is often unclear, and plenty of digressions make for a sometimes jarring read. She does evince considerable charm, though; in one section, talking about her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, she writes, “Yes, I am there between Mahalia Jackson and Snoop Dogg, right where I belong. Between the Godly and the street, cause I’m a spiritual gangsta!”

A meandering read, but Gibbs brings the charisma.