THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 22, 1996 TAG: 9602220364
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARSHA GILBERT, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PORTSMOUTH LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Twenty years after his first television sitcom aired, Ernest Thomas is still loved and recognized by fans.
A veteran actor of stage, screen and television, Thomas is best known as Roger, the character he played on TV's ``What's Happening'' and ``What's Happening Now.''
``Are you? Are you? You are him,'' said Clarice Mabry, as she smiled and pointed to Thomas when he came into Large Brothers Cafe, in Portsmouth for a lunch interview.
Mabry was so excited that she had pictures taken with him and phoned relatives to tell them he was eating in the restaurant owned by her sons Mike and Milton.
``I almost didn't recognize him without his glasses,'' said James Brown, a cook, who handed Thomas a blank bill to autograph.
Thomas was in Portsmouth Wednesday, as part of the cast of ``He Say . . . She Say . . . But What Does God Say?'' The show played to sold-out audiences on Tuesday and Wednesday nights at Willett Hall.
Thomas' character is Deacon Witherspoon, an opportunistic member of the True Vine Full Gospel Church.
The plot is how a fiery preacher (played by gospel music composer Kirk Franklin) a scheming deacon and a feuding congregation can join forces against a group of violent drug dealers to keep their church.
The message that no matter how wrong you have lived God will still forgive is delivered in the comic tradition of many gospel musicals.
The cast and crew moved up the interstate for performances at Carpenter Center for the Performing Arts, in Richmond, starting today through Sunday.
A devout Muslim since 1977, Thomas said he didn't have a problem playing a Christian deacon.
``I don't deal with labels,'' said Thomas, who played Sidney X in the motion picture Malcolm X.
Because of his belief that labels don't matter and that loving one another is the ultimate goal of religions, Thomas is traveling with a December newspaper clipping from The Dallas Morning News about a rabbi, an iman and a Christian minister offering a common prayer at a Celebration of Unity.
``I prayed for a part like this. The teachings of Jesus saved my life growing up and going to The Church of God in Christ, under Elder Chandler, in Gary, Indiana. It's all sincere.'' He also credits his mother, Inez, and his friend Muhammad Ali with directing his life.
``The play has a powerful message for Christians to get the neighborhood back so drug dealers and gangs know they cannot come back,'' said Thomas.
Thomas, who has a goal of owning a production company, has tried his hand at stand-up comedy, manages three singers and an actress, and gives motivational speeches on self-esteem at schools and prisons. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Ernest Thomas, known for his teenage role of Roger on the TV sitcom
``What's Happening,'' and a devout Muslim, says he had no problems
playing the role of a scheming deacon in a small inner-city church.
by CNB