Eric Monte known as the playwright behind such legendary sitcoms like Good Times, The Jeffersons, All In The Family, and Cooley High. Kenneth Williams popularly known by his stage name, Eric Monte was born in Chicago,Illinois,USA. Kenneth Williams was raised in the projects known as the Cabrini-Green Housing Project. Monte being born into a ...
I was five years old and I loved cowboys - Roy Rogers, Gene Autry, the Lone Ranger - and I had this little broomstick horse. And I was running, riding around like it was a horse. And this big old white guy came up to me. Now that I look back at it, he might not have been that big or that old, but he was definitely white. And he said who are you supposed to be? And I rode back on my little broomstick horse and I said I'm the Lone Ranger. So he said you can't be the Lone Ranger, the Lone Ranger is white. So I made a vow that when I grew up I was going to make some black heroes.
2
And my mother said they have never ever had a black writer in Hollywood. If they ever get one he's going to be some high-yellow black with a Harvard degree, not some high school dropout from Cabrini. I said Momma, I'm going to do this. A week later, I left with $5 and a suitcase, went out to Route 66, hitchhiked my way to Hollywood, and I had never written a word.
3
As soon as I filed that suit, all my offers dried up. Nobody in Hollywood would talk to me. I was blacklisted.
4
My living in the shelter and my being broke, I see that as a minor inconvenience. Life is way too short for me to let some idiotic thing like that make me unhappy. Please, no, I'm not sad about anything. I love life. I'm as happy as a sissy in Boys Town. My work ain't over.
5
I've never been one to obey the rules unless they made sense to me. If I had it to do over again, I'd do less arguing and more negotiating. I'm just happy to be alive.
6
Norman [Lear] considered my work too controversial. I pitched, "Good Times," in 1971, it didn't go on the air until 1974. In those three years we had about 20 meetings. The one note I got in every meeting was, "Get rid of the father," a strong black man in a sit com won't work. In 1974 I got the contract to write, "Cooley High." When AIP sent the cast to Chicago to shoot the movie, I quit Norman's company. The following year he came out with The Jefferson's.
7
Working on Good Times was real hard. All the white writers wanted to do stereotypes and I refused. Every week we'd argue and fight. They would ignore what I suggested and take all that, "Yassuh Boss," stuff to the cast and John Amos and Ester Rolle would have a fit. Then they'd give them what I wrote and the cast would like it they'd shoot it and it would go on the air. The next week it was the same fight. Originally I pictured J.J. as a street smart hustler who drove his honest, hard working parents crazy.
According to Eric Monte, it was his long-time friend Mike Evans, who he went to community college with, who gave him his big start in writing while Evans was guest starring on All In The Family. Soon afterwards, Mike Evans and Eric Monte would create a critically acclaimed sitcom called Good Times.
3
Norman Lear told Eric Monte about a show called "Steptoe and Son" (Sanford and Son) an all white show, to be created shortly after All In The Family took off into stardom. Eric Monte told Norman Lear the show should star Redd Foxx, at the time, Norman Lear had no idea who Redd Foxx was and was insistent upon creating the show with an all white cast- months later, subsequently, Redd Foxx was cast in the show and Eric Monte did not receive credit until he successfully sued Norman Lear in 1977 for stealing his ideas to create the show Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Good Times, and several others.
4
Lives in Chicago, Illinois [January 2008]
5
Contrary to popular belief, Eric Monte created the characters George And Louise Jefferson not Norman Lear.
6
Formed a writing partnership with Mike Evans, who played black neighbor Lionel Jefferson in "All in the Family" and together they came up with and created "Good Times." They supposedly rebelled against Lear, who wanted to write the father out of the show and embellish the stereotypical J.J. character.
7
He dropped out of high school and hitchhiked to L.A. in the mid-60s, where he "hoboed" and hung with hippies, eventually signing signed up for a playwriting class at Los Angeles City College and producing his first play, "If They Come Back", about a group of young leaders after the civil rights movement.
8
Monte sued Lear, along with CBS and ABC, in 1977 for stealing his ideas for "Good Times", "The Jeffersons" and "What's Happening!" and won a one million dollar settlement.
9
Was one of the hottest young writers in Hollywood in the 1970s. He was a driving force behind the socially-conscious sitcoms produced by Norman Lear, which included "All in the Family", "Maude" and "Good Times".
10
Was living in a homeless shelter and on the streets of East L.A., for the past five years recovering from a series of strokes and crack addiction.
11
Grew up in the Cabrini Green housing projects in Chicago and based the Evans family's home on his experiences there.
12
According to an interview he gave to NPR in July 2006, Monte currently lives in a Los Angeles Salvation Army shelter, where he still writes movie and TV pitches. In the same interview, he said that after nearly every episode of "Good Times," the network notes contained the same request: get rid of the father, since they thought that a strong black male character did not work in a sitcom.
13
Created George and Louise Jefferson for the the TV show "All in the Family."
14
Is a playwright, television writer and producer, screen writer, and book author.
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Moesha
2001
TV Series writer - 1 episode
The Wayans Bros.
1999
TV Series writer - 1 episode
What's Happening!!
1976-1979
TV Series suggested by the American International Picture "Cooley High" written by - 65 episodes
Good Times
TV Series created by - 133 episodes, 1974 - 1979 story by - 2 episodes, 1974 teleplay by - 2 episodes, 1974 written by - 2 episodes, 1974
$3 Million
