We wish that brotha the best though.John Allen Amos Jr. Wow! I guess you can say that we all learn something new everyday, don’t we? Damon sure had all of us fooled. Let’s just say this, I’ve taken detours but I always come back home. … I heard Gladys Knight say this, that we all get lost in the maze of materialism, but there’s a greater force if you believe in it, that brings us back home. And most of all, you don’t have yourself when you get there. Because once you get there you’ll find out that there is no there there. On what advice he would tell others who want to follow in his footsteps and pursue an acting career…ĭamon Evans: Don’t forsake their values to their ultimate goal. Sometimes, that is still not enough for some people to differentiate us apart. I always tell people that I am the one without the ‘fro and the one who married Jenny on TV. That is the closest I ever got to meeting and/or knowing Mike Evans, his mother. Interviewer: You mean they don’t know you’re gay?ĭamon Evans: No, they do know I’m gay but they won’t accept it.Įvans also stated that he never had a chance to meet the first Lionel, played by Mike Evans, who was also the co-creator of the “Good Times” sitcom.ĭamon Evans: I was the second ‘Lionel’ and I never met Mike, although I did meet his mother one Sunday in church during the first year I was doing the show. To this very day, I don’t think they have a clue as to who I really am, and that’s there loss. There I was ‘Lionel’ which was to them the epitome of what they wanted me to be, but ‘Lionel’ was just a role I played as an actor. My family, on the other hand, couldn’t have been happier. Besides, I was just becoming aware that I was a gay man and the conflict of the expectations of Hollywood and the role of ‘Lionel’ placed me in enormous emotional, psychological, and spiritual conflict with myself. Losing my anonymity at such a young age was devastating to me. There was such a marked difference in our interpretations of the role. I had not even seen one episode of the show before I took over the part, and the producers discouraged me from ever watching any of the episodes in which Mike had appeared. There I was a total unknown one day, and the next appearing on network television in one of the top 10 TV shows on the air. However, that said, the first year on the show was quite a heady experience. No! I uprooted myself from a role as a classical music student and was thrust in the public’s eye overnight. It sounds like you didn’t enjoy doing the show. Then Damon Evans revealed that his sexual preference became an issue for him on The Jeffersons as well. It was later revealed that he was actually “Henry Jefferson,” “George’s” brother. Lear improvised and hired Mel Stewart as a sort of “placeholder.” In the sitcom’s storyline, Stewart posed as “George Jefferson” when he joined “George’s” wife, “Louise” (played by Isabel Sanford), for dinner at the ‘Bunker’ home. Also, Sherman Hemsley was not the original George Jefferson.ĭamon is referring to this fun fact about the show’s beginning cast: From the character’s first appearance on All in the Family, producer, Norman Lear, had pegged Sherman Hemsley to play “George Jefferson.” But when All in the Family became a hit, Hemsley was tied up on Broadway as the co-star of Purlie, and was understandably reluctant to break his contract. … The question asked of me will always be “Which ‘Lionel’ are you, the first or the second?” In retrospect, I think it was actually an impossible task to undertake because most people don’t seem to remember that Michael Evans was the first ‘Jefferson’ to appear on All in the Family. Interviewer: How did the experience on affect your life?ĭamon Evans: If I had to make that particular choice over again, that is accepting or not accepting the role of ‘Lionel’ and replacing actor Michael Evans, I definitely would have refused the role.
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