Bern Nadette Stanis

File:Good Times the Evans family 1974.JPG (1974), L-R: Ralph Carter, BernNadette Stanis, Jimmie Walker, Esther Rolle, and John Amos.]]

One of five children,[http://www.iloveoldschoolmusic.com/thelma-revealed-a-very-painful-moment-she-had-with-her-mother/2/ "Thelma" Revealed An Extremely Painful Experience She Had With Her Mom – December 27, 2015] Stanis was born and raised in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn, New York City.{{cite web| url= http://blackdoctor.org/452421/bernnadette-stanis-helps-alzheimers-patients-remember-the-good-times/| title= Bernadette Stanis Helps Alzheimer's Patients Remember the 'Good Times'| date=November 21, 2018|first= Aria|last= Ellise|publisher=BlackDoctor.org|accessdate= December 23, 2016| archivedate= October 12, 2016| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20161012071714/http://blackdoctor.org/452421/bernnadette-stanis-helps-alzheimers-patients-remember-the-good-times/| url-status= live}} Her paternal grandparents were from Carriacou in the Grenadine Islands.{{cite AV media|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opEFo0oYvR0|title=BernNadette Stanis Who Played Thelma On 'Good Times' Gives Rare Interview|date=July 16, 2020|time=01:46|accessdate=July 17, 2020|work=Willie D Live|quote=My grandparents on my father's side [were] from Grenada Carriacou, from the West Indies, so my father ... was born in Brooklyn. ... And my mother is from Louisiana. ... They raised five children.}} [https://archive.org/details/bern-nadette-stanis-who-played-thelma-on-good-times-gives-rare-interview Alt URL] She attended Erasmus Hall High School{{cite news| url=http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2009/35/brooklyn_heights_courier_newsneqovcy08272009.html| title=Say hello to the real 'Thelma' – Bern Nadette Stanis| date=August 28, 2009| issue=35| first=Joe| last=Maniscalco| work=Brooklyn Daily| publisher=Community News Group| accessdate=December 23, 2016| archivedate=December 24, 2016| archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161224105753/http://www.brooklyndaily.com/stories/2009/35/brooklyn_heights_courier_newsneqovcy08272009.html| url-status=live}} Additional on December 23, 2016. and later attended the Juilliard School.{{cite news | title = 'Good Times' Teen No Longer Hiding | first = Charles | last = Witbeck | agency = King Features Syndicate | newspaper = Boca Raton News | date = May 30, 1975 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=uRBUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=w4wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6065,4013487}}{{cite news | title = Thelma Of 'Good Times' Moving Ahead | first = Elaine | last = Markoutsas | newspaper = Toledo Blade | date = January 5, 1976 | url = https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=gApPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=SgIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7269,1742044}} (originally published in Chicago Tribune, December 28, 1975) As a teen, Stanis entered Miss Black America pageants, and went on to become Miss Brooklyn, a title with which she became first runner-up in the Miss New York state pageant.{{cite web| url=http://missblackamerica2016.com/children/bernadette-stanis/| title=Miss Black America Success Story: Bernadette Stanis| date=January 22, 2015| publisher=Miss Black America| accessdate=August 30, 2015| archivedate=December 15, 2016| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20161215100221/http://missblackamerica2016.com/children/bernadette-stanis/| url-status=usurped}}

Stanis played the role of Thelma Ann Evans on the CBS sitcom Good Times from February 1974 to August 1979. After the series ended, she made appearances on television shows including The Cosby Show and What's Happening Now!!. She and former co-star Jimmie Walker lent their voices to a radio spot for AT&T,{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} and Stanis went on to do a Nationwide Insurance commercial.{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} Stanis has been featured in promotions for the TV One network,{{citation needed|date=December 2017}} and in a "Thelma" promotion that aired September 19, 2009, alongside actress Anna Maria Horsford in the "Battle of the Thelmas" that aired their weddings from their respective TV series. (Horsford portrayed "Thelma Frye" in the TV series Amen.) During the "Way Black Then" promotions in February 2010 in honor of Black History Month, she and Walker appeared on the program Color TV to share their memories and thoughts on Good Times. She later appeared on the TV One show Life After. In July 2016, Stanis appeared on an episode of Centric's Being, discussing her life and career.

Stanis has been married four times. Her first marriage was to high-school sweetheart Thomas Fauntleroy from June 1974 until 1978,{{cite news| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-r8DAAAAMBAJ&dq=Bern+nadette+Stanis&pg=PA21 | title=Did Fame Wreck Marriage of TV's Good Times Star ? – BernNadette Stanis |work=Jet |date= July 20, 1978|first=Bob| last=Lucas|pages=21–22|quote=...she married Thomas Fauntleroy in June 1974. ... 'Faunt' (the nickname of the High-school sweetheart she married in June 1974)}} Stanis: "It's been about a year and a half [since the separation]."{{cite news| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KbcDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA51 | title=Famous Marriages and Loves Lost | work= Jet | date=January 10, 1980 | page=52| quote=BernNadette Stanis (1979) to Darnell Johnson after divorcing Thomas Fauntleroy in 1978}} then to Brooklyn nightclub owner Darnell Johnson in January 1979.{{cite news| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ckIDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA58 |title=BernNadette's Surprise Wedding| work=Jet| page=58 |date= January 25, 1979| quote=BernNadette Stanis was married to Darnell Johnson, owner of Darnell's nightclub in Brooklyn.... They met two months ago.}} Stanis' third marriage was to mechanical engineer Terrence Redd. Stanis gave birth to their daughter Dior Ravel circa April 1982.{{cite news| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=_rcDAAAAMBAJ&dq=bern+nadette+stanis+dior&pg=PA41 |work=Jet | date=August 24, 1982| title= The Week's Best Photos > Momma's Baby| quote=...husband Terrence Redd. ... BerNadette [sic] shows off their four-month-old daughter, Dior.}} The couple later divorced.{{cite news| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=S9oDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA80 | title= Stepmom Kathleen Bradley | work= Ebony| date= May 2000| first= Lynn|last= Norment|quote= ...Terrence Reed, a mechanical engineer.... Redd has a 17-year-old daughter, Dior, [born circa 1983] by his earlier marriage to actress Bernadette [sic] Stanis, who portrayed Thelma on the TV show Good Times.}} Her fourth husband is Kevin Fontana; an article in 2012 said they had been married 31 years,{{cite web| url= http://www.thechocolatevoice.com/the-original-it-girl-thelma-of-good-times-featured-on-tv-ones-life-after/| title= The original 'It Girl' Thelma of 'Good Times,' featured on TV-One's 'Life After'| publisher= (interview) TheChocolateVoice.com| date= October 8, 2012| accessdate= December 23, 2016| archivedate= December 23, 2016| archiveurl= https://web.archive.org/web/20161223203712/http://www.thechocolatevoice.com/the-original-it-girl-thelma-of-good-times-featured-on-tv-ones-life-after/| url-status= live}} Additional on December 23, 2016. but other sources (cited above) state that Stanis was married to Redd circa 1981. Stanis also has a second child, daughter Brittany Rose. Stanis lives in Atlanta, Georgia with her children.{{citation needed|date= September 2023}}

• {{cite book|title=Situations 101|first=Bern Nadette|last=Stanis|publisher=The Worthingham Group|year=2006|isbn=978-0-9770361-0-3|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/situations10100bern}}

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• {{IMDb name|822304|BernNadette Stanis}}

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Category:1953 births

Category:American television actresses

Category:Juilliard School alumni

Category:People from Brownsville, Brooklyn

Category:20th-century African-American people

Category:20th-century African-American actresses

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:Living people

Category:Erasmus Hall High School alumni

Category:21st-century African-American people

Category:21st-century African-American women

Category:Actresses from Brooklyn

Category:Writers from Brooklyn