| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Robert Simpson, played by Ralph Wilcox | ||||
| Personal Information | ||||
| Gender: | Male | |||
| Occupation/ Career: |
Former high school/college student-athlete | |||
| Character description: |
Has to be kept awake by J.J. after he attempts suicide by OD on some sleeping pills that were in the Evans' bathroom | |||
| Character information | ||||
| Appeared on: | Good Times | |||
| Character played by: | Ralph Wilcox | |||
Robert Simpson, an old high school classmate of J.J.'s, appears in the Season 4 episode of Good Times titled "A Friend in Need". The part of Robert is played in the episode by Ralph Wilcox.
About Robert[]
When the kids throw a wild party in Mom Florida's absence, among the guests is Robert "Superstar" Simpson, J.J.'s old high school chum. Robert, a once-promising high school basketball player, soon after arriving at the party, breaks the news to J.J. that he has just flunked out of college and has been subsequently released from the school's basketball team. When J.J. tries to console him over his misfortune, telling him that he can easily do something else, Robert says, "To me, basketball was my life." As pressure mounts from his father (a high school coach) to succeed in sports, the pressures of college life (which, as he says, consists of a lot of partying) combine with the news that Ellen, his girlfriend (Debbie Morgan), has just dumped him, sets him over the edge. He decides that life isn't worth living anymore. Things take an even grimmer turn when Robert takes a bottle of sleeping pills that was in the Evans' bathroom, trying to "end it all" after the party ends.
J.J. is, all of a sudden, transformed from a consoling buddy to a literal lifesaver as he has to try hard to keep Robert awake while Thelma and Michael await the arrival of the paramedics . . . who eventually come in the nick of time to keep Robert from "ending it all".