Eric Monte

Kenneth Williams, most popularly known by his stage name Eric Monte, was born and raised in the economically impoverished Cabrini-Green Housing project in Chicago. It was an environment filled with gangs, high unemployment, and drugs. When Monte was five years old, he loved to play cowboys and Indians and pretend that he was the Lone Ranger. While Monte was playing a white man approached him and told Monte that he couldn't be the lone ranger because the lone ranger was white. At the tender age of five, Eric Monte made a vow and told himself that when he grew up, he was going to make some black heroes. And that is exactly what Eric Monte did. Eric Monte, a high school drop-out, had aspirations of going to Hollywood and becoming a writer. Monte's mother upon hearing her son's aspirations remarked, "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". However, Monte was determined to make it as a success and left Cabrini with $5 in his pocket, went onto Route 66 and hitchhiked his way to Hollywood. Eric Monte was befriended by a fellow actor named Mike Evans in 1971. Mike Evans, who got a new role on Norman Lear's sitcom, All in the Family, was impressed by Eric Monte and asked Monte to help expand his role on All in the Family. Eric Monte wrote a script and submitted it to Norman Lear. Lear was impressed and hired Eric Monte as a writer on the show Eric Monte pitched an idea to Norman Lear of an entrepreneurial African American black man named George Jefferson to be added onto All in the Family. Subsequently, the characters George and Louise Jefferson premiered on Lear's show All in the Family. George Jefferson was an African American who owned a chain of dry cleaning stores and lived next door to the bigoted Archie Bunker. In 1974, Eric Monte collaborated with Mike Evans and created the show Good Times where Norman Lear acted as executive producer. Good Times tackled social issues such as income inequality, drugs, gang violence, discrimination, and genuinely gave an outlook into the struggles African Americans faced. Norman Lear, however, consistently insisted that the father be written out of the show and asserted that "a strong black man in a sitcom won't work." In 1976, against the wishes of Eric Monte, Lear fired John Amos-who played the strong black father on the show-after Amos voiced strong objections to the lack of direction of the show. In 1974 Monte quit Lear's production company after he received a contract to write "Cooley High"-a movie chronicling the antics of African American teenagers living in the Chicago projects. A year after Monte's resignation, Norman Lear came out with a show called The Jeffersons-a spin-off of All in the Family which starred the characters George and Louise Jefferson in their own sitcom. Even though it was Eric Monte who created the characters George and Louise Jefferson, Norman Lear took the credit and billed himself as creator of the show. The show ran for eleven seasons and was regarded as the most successful African American sitcom in history. The Jeffersons paved the way for shows like The Cosby Show which also chronicled the adventures of an upper-middle class African American family. With the success of the 1975 movie, Cooley High, a sitcom adaption then followed in 1976 called, What's Happening! What's Happening became the first African American teen sitcom to break into the Nielsen ratings. In the early 1970s, Norman Lear told Eric Monte about a potential remake of a British show called "Steptoe and Son" (Sanford and Son) which was an all-white show dealing with a junk dealer. The remake was to be created shortly after All in the Family took off into stardom. Eric Monte told Norman Lear the show should star African American comedian 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. After the critical success of Eric Monte's film Cooley High, Monte created a television series based off the movie called "What's Happening!" The show was a success and ran for three seasons. In 1977, Monte filed a lawsuit accusing ABC, CBS, producers Norman Lear, Bud Yorkin and others of stealing his ideas for "Good Times," "The Jeffersons" and "What's Happening!!" Monte received a $1-million settlement and a small percentage of the residuals from "Good Times" and one percent ownership of the show. Monte, due to his lack of business knowledge and experience as well as legal representation, would not receive royalties for other shows which he created. However, Lear and other Hollywood producers outraged over the lawsuit, blacklisted Eric Monte and labeled him too difficult to work with. During an NPR interview with Eric Monte, Norman Lear was asked by the news outlet to respond to details of the court settlement which prove that he is a fraud-however; Lear refused the news outlet's request for response. Monte claimed that after he filed the lawsuit all his offers dried up-nobody in Hollywood wanted to work with him. Monte, at the peak of his entertainment career, was driving a Mercedes-Benz and lived in a luxurious house with his two daughters. However, unable to get work, he became despondent, developed a crack cocaine addiction and became homeless. Monte lost his $1 million dollar settlement due to poor investment. In 2006, Monte decided to live in the Salvation Army of Bell, California. The Salvation Army does regular drug tests and Monte now remains sober from all narcotics. Monte in the late 2000s made his debut as an author writing a book called, "BluePrints For Peace". Monte says the book details seven different ways we can achieve world peace. Monte now resides in his birthplace, Chicago Illinois and is still writing television and film scripts looking for them to be sold, attempting to make another comeback. Eric Monte will be forever known as a pioneer African American playwright who fulfilled his vision in creating black heroes to be admired by people all over the world.