Zara Frances Cully (January 26, 1892 â€" February 28, 1978) was an
American actress. Cully was best known for her role as Olivia 'Mother
Jefferson' Jefferson on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, which she
portrayed from the series beginning in 1975 until her death in
1978.Zara Frances Cully was the eldest of 10 surviving children born
to Ambrose E. and Nora Ann (née' Gilliam) Cully in Worcester,
Massachusetts, on January 26, 1892. The Cully family was musical with
Ambrose serving as the music director of the church they attended,
Zion AME Church. Zara's younger brother, jazz trumpeter Wendell Cully,
played with Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. She graduated from the
Worcester School of Speech and Music.In 1940, after an appearance in
New York City, she became known as "one of the world's greatest
elocutionists". After moving to Jacksonville, Florida, she began
producing, writing, directing, and acting in numerous plays. For 15
years she was a drama teacher at her own studio as well as at Edward
Waters College, a historically black college founded in 1866 to
educate freed slaves. She had become known as Florida's "Dean of
Drama." Upset by the racism she experienced in the Jim Crow-era South,
Cully decided to move to Hollywood, where she became a regular
performer at the Ebony Showcase Theatre.
American actress. Cully was best known for her role as Olivia 'Mother
Jefferson' Jefferson on the CBS sitcom The Jeffersons, which she
portrayed from the series beginning in 1975 until her death in
1978.Zara Frances Cully was the eldest of 10 surviving children born
to Ambrose E. and Nora Ann (née' Gilliam) Cully in Worcester,
Massachusetts, on January 26, 1892. The Cully family was musical with
Ambrose serving as the music director of the church they attended,
Zion AME Church. Zara's younger brother, jazz trumpeter Wendell Cully,
played with Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. She graduated from the
Worcester School of Speech and Music.In 1940, after an appearance in
New York City, she became known as "one of the world's greatest
elocutionists". After moving to Jacksonville, Florida, she began
producing, writing, directing, and acting in numerous plays. For 15
years she was a drama teacher at her own studio as well as at Edward
Waters College, a historically black college founded in 1866 to
educate freed slaves. She had become known as Florida's "Dean of
Drama." Upset by the racism she experienced in the Jim Crow-era South,
Cully decided to move to Hollywood, where she became a regular
performer at the Ebony Showcase Theatre.
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