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Allan (Jay Hammer, center) with mom Helen (Roxie Roxer) and Richard (T.K. Carter, left), a guy seeking help at the Help Center in Season 5. | ||||
Personal Information | ||||
Gender: | Male | |||
Ethnicity | Biracial/Mixed | |||
Related to: | Tom Willis (father) Helen Willis (mother) Jenny Willis-Jefferson (sister) Lionel Jefferson (brother in-law) Jessica Jefferson (niece) Bertram Willis (great-uncle) | |||
Character information | ||||
Appeared on: | The Jeffersons | |||
Character played by: | Andrew Rubin in "Jenny's Low" in Season 1 Jay Hammer in Season 5, beginning with the episode "The Homecoming: Part One" |
Allan Willis is the son of Helen and Tom Willis, the older brother of Jenny. Andrew Rubin appears as this character in the first season finale of The Jeffersons, in the episode titled "Jenny's Low" (aired on April 12, 1975), in which he returns from Europe, and is given the "Cold Shoulder" by his sister Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert). Jenny starts staying at the Jeffersons' apartment as long as Allan stayed at their own home. She was somewhat jealous of Allan turning out to be "white". They eventually reconcile.
In the 1978-79 season, which is the fifth season, Allan is now portrayed by Jay Hammer, who joins the cast in a two-part episode of the season opener. Allan returns from New Mexico while his parents return from Syracuse, New York, after Tom's father's death. Tom's father has left Allan the Fortune Warehouse, and the relationship between Tom and Allan becomes very cold because of his "happy-go-lucky" attitude. Allan is well-known for his sharp rebuttal against George's insults and his well-rounded personality. After this fifth season (1978-79), Hammer was fired from the show for unknown reasons. Mike Evans, fresh from his work with another Norman Lear series, Good Times (which he co-created with Eric Monte, and which was cancelled by CBS after six seasons) in 1979, returned to his role as Lionel in the fall of 1979. After that, he moved to Minnesota.