# Tom Willis "Moves On Up"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-willis-moves-on-up/343898>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 10, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-willis-moves-on-up/343898 "2006-02-10T19:11:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Superdude](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/superdude/32/13450_2.png) [@Superdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superdude)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-willis-moves-on-up/343898/1 "2006-02-10T19:11:31Z")

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[Franklin Cover](http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060210/ap_on_en_tv/obit_cover), who played Tom Willis on TV’s _The Jeffersons_, has died at 77.

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**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\
**Post date:** [February 10, 2006, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tom-willis-moves-on-up/343898/2 "2006-02-10T20:35:50Z")

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I met him in person once when he was visiting the Alabama Shakespeare Festival (I believe his son was a member of the company there) and he was an exceptionally nice person. While he was never _that_ famous and this was long after _The Jeffersons_, it’s still not uncommon for celebrities of lesser fame to be pompous horses patoolies so it was very nice. (I didn’t go on about or even mention The Jeffersons, though I did call him Mr. Cover so he’d know I recognized him, but we talked about the Shakespeare festival and the south in general.)

One of my favorite moments with him on _The Jeffersons_ was also one of the only times that the show pushed anything at all like an edgy subject. George had gotten into trouble with somebody for using a racial epithet towards Tom and, with Tom’s willingness, was trying to show that “He’s cool with it, it’s no problem.” He’s telling the person “I pick at Willis all the time don’t I fattie? Hah hah hah” and Tom takes it good naturedly. About the third time he calls him potbelly or honkey Willis is obviously getting tired of it, and the next time he says “Willis knows he’s fat and he’s white so he don’t mind me calling him a fat honkey, do you Willis?” to which Willis responds, equally good naturedly, “No, I really don’t mind… boy.”

Of course George went ballistic and the audience went wild.