Friday, March 29, 2024

Jackée Harry Remembers ‘227,’ Diva Past and Sandra’s Sexy, Funny Ways (EUR Exclusive)

Jackée Harry*Saturdays may be a graveyard now for TV, but for many folks, Saturday night was gold as it marked must-see TV for fans tuned in to see the classic show “227.”

And while the high-jinks of Marla Gibbs’ Mary Jenkins’ and her friends and family anchored the series back in the mid-’80s, viewers got a healthy dose of sexy mixed with their funny via Jackée Harry and her scene-stealing character, Sandra Clark. With Sandra’s popularity came instant stardom for Harry, who scored an outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series Emmy as well as celebrity perks galore.

Reminiscing over her time on “227,” Harry opened up to EURweb about how the fame turned her into a diva while navigating through the fast lane of Hollywood as well as the everlasting appeal of the show and Sandra .

“I was a diva, full and blown up [laughs]. In fact, I was the ‘It’ girl. Oh yeah, I was that girl. I dressed well, had a lot of money. I don’t know how many cars. You know, it was the 80s. It was like…it was not a blur but it flew so fast. So I was large and in charge and very independent and a true star,” Harry confessed as she emphasized how her attitude would be much different now if she encountered the level of fame she had during the heyday of “227.”

“I’m saying it now, but when I was doing it, I never looked at it as that. But now I look back and I go ‘Oh Miss Thing. You really smelled yourself [laughs]. I had fun doing it, but today if that happened to me, I wouldn’t be the same person. I mean even at that age, it’s just a different time. Now of course, we have social media so it might have even blown up in another way that I might not have even liked because we were doing notorious things but having a lot of fun because there were a lot of people working in hit shows during that period.”

jackee harry (sitting with mic)

“‘The Cosby Show,’ ‘Family Ties.’ I knew all those people. Richard Grieco, Johnny Depp. I knew all of those people then. Brad Pitt. It was a stellar time to really be on top of your game,” she continued. “So I remember the flash of it. You could feel your bones, as they say. You could really strut your stuff. I don’t know if that’s the way for kids now. I work with a lot of people now and they’re stars, but they don’t want to be stars. I wanted to be. That’s the difference.”

Fortunately, Harry had a great vehicle to shine in “227,” which struck a chord with its relatable characters in an era where “The Cosby Show” reigned supreme. With it being “pretty funny” and crossing over beyond black America the seeds were planted for the show’s imminent success.

“A lot of family and pretty funny. Marla Gibbs had been on “The Jeffersons.” It was good, but then it became perfect, working with her,” Harry said about her “227” castmate. “The kids on there and the stars we had and the different games shows we were on. It seemed like ‘Family Feud’ and ‘Wheel of Fortune,’ stuff that people want to do that they think depicted them in their daily lives. We were regular and accessible, not too high in the tide so they can relate to the characters.”

jackee harry (getting out of car)

While Harry touted the family vibe of “227” and its cast, during that time, she admits her star status was such that it prevented her from fully bonding with her co-stars as she found herself involved with various projects.

“They were, yes. They were close, definitely. But like I said, my star was shining so bright I did a lot of other stuff. I did a lot of movies, a lot of guest starring. A lot of different big time stuff,” she said. “So I was offered another kind of bubble that I didn’t know about … and yet I was single. They were married or hooked up or had kids. I was out in the world so I really didn’t do the hanging off screen thing. I was just gone. I was a zephyr [laughs].”

Harry’s hard work obviously paid off with Sandra, who became a certified hit with viewers. It’s a given that Harry put her stamp on the character, but she credits a couple of entertainment icons for helping to lay the groundwork for her and other women to be funny and sexy without missing a beat. Especially when it came to Sandra

“Just funny. Funny. And the clothes she wore, scandalous. Funny lines. Sexy, fancy. People wanted that and I didn’t know that, then,” Harry said about what made her beloved “227” character so endearing. “I grew up watching a lot of TV and I had seen women like that on TV… a lot of different women like Mae West and Lucille Ball. That was my vision of funny. Pretty, but still funny and you can get away with a lot more. Which is still true today.

“But it is rare for women to be funny, I found out, and look good. That I didn’t know and kind of take that for granted,” she added. “Even now in stand up comedy today, if you’re a pretty woman you gotta, kind of beat yourself up to be funny, you know what I’m saying. I kind of took that for granted.”

Jackée Harry’s comments come as she gears up to reveal her top 10 favorite episodes of “227” during a marathon to celebrate the show’s arrival on Logo. In addition, fans can check her out this spring when she appears on Logo’s new game show, “RuPaul’s Gay For Play.”

The “227” marathon will kick off at 2:27 p.m. Saturday (Feb. 27) on Logo.

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