Franklin Cover
Born	Franklin Edward Cover November 20, 1928(1928-11-20) Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Died	February 5, 2006 (aged 77) Englewood, New Jersey, USA
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1950's - 2005
Spouse(s)	Mary Bradford Stone, 1965 - his death

Franklin Edward Cover (November 20, 1928 – February 5, 2006) was an American actor most noted for starring on the sitcom The Jeffersons. His character, Tom Willis, was half of one of the first interracial marriages to be seen on prime-time television.

[edit] Biography

Cover was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of Britta (née Schreck) and Franklin Held Cover.^[1] His career started on the stage acting in Henry IV, Part 1 and Hamlet. He also appeared in Forty Carats with Julie Harris. He made his television debut on Naked City and later appeared on The Jackie Gleason Show.

His first significant role was on The Jeffersons as Tom Willis who was married to a black wife, Helen, played by Roxie Roker. The couple lived in the same high-rise apartment building as the sitcom's title characters. Cover would often be the foil to Sherman Hemsley's black businessman, George Jefferson. The sitcom ran from 1975 to 1985. He also appeared in The Stepford Wives in 1975.^[2]

Following the end of The Jeffersons, Cover continued to make guest appearances on television shows as well as appearing in a supporting role in Wall Street. In 1994, he appeared in the first episode of ER to follow the pilot. His final appearance was in an episode of Will & Grace (entitled "Object Of My Rejection") in 1999.

Cover died at the Lillian Booth Actors' Fund of America home in Englewood, New Jersey, on February 5, 2006. He had been living at the home since December 2005 while recuperating from a heart condition and died of pneumonia. He is survived by his wife, the former Mary Bradford Stone, and two adult children, Susan and Bradford, and a grandson Maxwell. His son, Bradford Cover, is an actor and lives in New York City. He has appeared on Law and Order, Broadway, Off Broadway and is a company member at The Pearl Theatre Co. His daughter Susan is the founder of Susie's Supper Club, a home delivery food service that caters to parents and children in New York.

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Franklin Cover at TV.com
• Franklin Cover at the Internet Movie Database
• Obituary at Legacy.com
• "Jeffersons Star moves on up" at E! Online, February 10, 2006
• "Franklin Cover, 77, comic foil to Sherman Hemsley" at Boston Globe, February 12, 2006
• "Bradford Website"
• "Susie's Supper Club"