On the 1970s hit television sitcom, Good Times, Willona Woods was the stylish and single, gossiping next-door neighbor of Florida Evans (Esther Rolle), who ended up adopting an abused child named Penny, played by Janet Jackson.
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Played by Jeannette Theresa DuBois, also known as Ja’Net DuBois, the character of Willona was a classic, but by the mid-’70s the actress and singer wanted to challenge herself creatively and ended up writing and singing what would become one of the most classic theme songs on television for a then-new show called The Jeffersons.
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Airing for 10 years from 1975 through 1985, The Jeffersons followed the story of New York City couple George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) and his wife Louise (Isabel Sanford), who move from Queens to a high-rise apartment in Manhattan after his dry-cleaning chain, Jefferson Cleaners, takes off.
Well we’re movin’ on up, to the east side
To a deluxe apartment in the sky
Movin’ on up
To the east side
We finally got a piece of the pie
Fish don’t fry in the kitchen;
Beans don’t burn on the grill
Took a whole lotta tryin’
Just to get up that hill
Now we’re up in the big leagues
Gettin’ our turn at bat
As long as we live, it’s you and me baby
There ain’t nothin’ wrong with that
A spin-off of All in the Family, where the characters of George and Louise were featured as Archie and Edith Bunker’s neighbors, The Jeffersons also starred Marla Gibbs as their maid Florence Johnston and Roxie Rover (mother of Lenny Kravitz) and Franklin Cover as neighbors Helen and Thomas Willis.
Moving Up
Inspired by her family’s own aspirations to move up in life, DuBois co-wrote “Movin’ On Up” for The Jeffersons, along with pop music songwriter Jeff Barry, who was already responsible for co-writing a string of hits throughout the 1950s and ’60s, including “Chapel of Love,” “River Deep, Mountain High” “Do Wah Diddy Diddy,” “Da Doo Ron Ron,” “Then He Kissed Me,” and The Ronettes’ 1963 classic, “Be My Baby.”
In addition to writing “Movin’ On Up,” DuBois also sang the theme song for The Jeffersons, backed by a gospel choir.
“She wrote that song as a promise to her mother, that when she obtained a certain level of stardom, that her dream was to essentially have her mom live in a deluxe apartment,” said Dubois’ daughter Kesha Gupta-Fields, following her mother’s death in 2020. “That was written and sung as a gift to her mother, Lilian DuBois.”
The lyrics of the song were ones that held a deeper meaning to DuBois since she felt she had helped move her family up. “I moved my whole family,” said Dubois in a 1992 interview.
Dubois: The Early Years
Born in Brooklyn, New York DuBois started performing on stage in the 1960s, including A Raisin in the Sun with Louis Gossett Jr., before landing her first role in the 1966 film A Man Called Adam, starring Sammy Davis Jr.
By 1970, Dubois landed a role on the short-lived soap opera, Love of Life, before additional spots on hit shows like Sanford and Son and the TV series Shaft before landing on Good Times in 1974, where she remained through 1979.
Throughout the 1970s and ’80s, DuBois also starred in roles on Kojak, The Love Boat, and The Facts of Life and into the early 1990s on The Cosby Show spinoff A Different World and Beverly Hills, 90210.
Later Years
DuBois continued acting in television throughout the ’00s and 2010s, including appearances on shows like The Steve Harvey Show and Crossing Jordan, as well as in film, including the 2003 movie Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and her final film, She’s Got a Plan, in 2016.
Good Times… One More Time
DuBois died on February 17, 2020, at her home in Glendale, California at the age of 74, according to her family.
A year before her death, DuBois, along with her former Good Times co-stars Bern Nadette Stanis, who played Thelma, and Jimmie Walker (J.J.), made a surprise appearance on an episode of Live in Front of a Studio Audience in 2019. The series recreated episodes of popular shows from the 1970s and ’80s.
An episode of The Jeffersons was also recreated with Jamie Foxx playing George and Jennifer Hudson singing the theme song for the show that Dubois wrote more than 40 years earlier.
Photo by Ron Galella, Ltd./Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
