Skip to main content
NC DNCR logo NC DNCR

Topical Navigation

  • Home
  • Places to Go
  • Things to Do
    Things to Do
    • Field Trips, Group Visits & CAVS
    • Archives
    • Aquariums
    • Libraries
    • Museums
    • State Parks
    • State Historic Sites
    • North Carolina Symphony
    • Zoo
    • Events and Programs
    • Trips/Travel Ideas
    • Sightseeing Tours in North Carolina
    • African American Experience
    • America 250 NC
  • Things to Know
    Things to Know
    • Artist Opportunities
    • Conservation Assistance
    • Digital Collections & Online Exhibits
    • Family History & Genealogy
    • Mapping Resources
    • Publications
    • Records Management
    • Search Our Collections
    • American Indian Programs and Resources
    • Blogs
    • Grants Opportunities
    • Moonshine and Motorsports Trail
    • NCCulture Kids Videos
    • Podcasts
    • Advisory Council on Film, Television, and Digital Streaming
  • News
    News
    • Contacts for the Press
    • Press Releases
    • DNCR Marketing & Communications Team
    • Legislative Reports
  • About
    About
    • Arts
    • History
    • Libraries
    • Nature
    • Support Us
    • Employment
    • Special Programs
    • DNCR Strategic Plan 2021 - 2023
    • Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusion
    • Featured Programs
    • Leadership
    • Public Participation Plan
  • NCLearn
  • Contact Us
  • NC.GOV
  • AGENCIES
  • JOBS
  • SERVICES
NC DNCR »   Home »   blog

Palmer Graduate Cast as Lionel Jefferson

November 3, 2016

On November 3, 1949, television actor and writer Michael Evans was born in Salisbury.

Evans attended school at the elite Palmer Memorial Institute in Sedalia until his family moved to Los Angeles. In California, he finished high school and began to study acting.

A publicity photo of Evans for All in the Family. Image from CBS.
A publicity photo of Evans for All in the Family. Image from CBS.

Before finishing his training, Evans landed the part of Lionel Jefferson on Norman Lear’s hit 1970s TV show All in the Family. Evans’s Lionel was a liberal, rational and clever counterpart to his irritable father, George Jefferson, and his neighbor, the boisterous bigot Archie Bunker. So entertaining were the Jeffersons that in 1975 the family premiered in its own series, in which they moved out of the Bunker’s neighborhood into a “deluxe apartment in the sky.”

Only months into the production of The Jeffersons, Evans created Good Times with his writing partner Eric Monte. The show, a spinoff from Maude, another Lear production, was one of the first sitcoms to feature a primarily African American cast. The demands of writing Good Times led Evans to abandon his role as Lionel Jefferson for a few years. While involved with the Lear television syndicate, Evans appeared in several TV movies.

Evans died of throat cancer in 2006.

More on TV in North Carolina’s history is available on NCpedia.

For more about North Carolina’s history, arts, nature and culture, visit DNCR online. To receive these updates automatically each day, make sure you subscribe by email using the box on the right, and follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

This blog is related to:

  • African American History
  • This Day in North Carolina History

Related Blogs

  • Selma Burke, Renowned for FDR Portrait on the Dime
  • Selma Burke, Renowned for FDR Portrait on the Dime
  • Henry Plummer Cheatham, Educator and Advocate for Equality
  • Henry Plummer Cheatham, Educator and Advocate for Equality
  • Illinois Soldiers Overrun Thomas’s Legion, 1864
  • Upper House of Assembly Meets at the Newly-Constructed Tryon Palace
  • North Carolina Approves the 13th Amendment
  • North Carolina Approves the 13th Amendment
  • Mel Tomlinson, Master of Ballet and Modern Dance
  • Mel Tomlinson, Master of Ballet and Modern Dance

Share this page:

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email

How can we make this page better for you?

Back to top

Contact Information

North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources

109 E. Jones Street
Mail Service Center 4601

Raleigh, NC 27601

Recent Tweets

Tweets by@ncculture

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Flickr
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Medium
  • Employee Directory
  • Translation Disclaimer
  • TRAVEL POLICY
  • Accessibility
  • Terms of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Open Budget
NC DNCR
https://www.ncdcr.gov/blog/2016/11/03/palmer-graduate-cast-lionel-jefferson