In 1979, Rolle won the Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Special for the television film Summer of My German Soldier.

Her parents were both born and raised in Nassau, New Providence, The Bahamas and moved to Florida some time after their marriage.

[3] While in New York, she attended Hunter College before transferring to The New School and then Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.

[5] Rolle's most prominent early role was as Miss Maybell in the Melvin Van Peebles 1972 Broadway musical Don't Play Us Cheap, and its subsequent 1973 film adaptation.

Rolle was 19 years older than the actor (John Amos) who played her husband James (named Henry on Maude) Evans.

[7] Among her guest-starring roles was one on The Incredible Hulk in an episode entitled "Behind the Wheel", in which she played a taxicab business owner.

After Good Times ended, she appeared in a number of made-for-television movies as well as films, including Driving Miss Daisy and My Fellow Americans.

She had a major role in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings based on Maya Angelou's memoir of the same name, and has the distinction of having won the first Emmy Award for the category Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or Movie, in 1979, for her work in the television movie Summer of My German Soldier.

She is also credited for her role in the film The Mighty Quinn (1989), starring Denzel Washington and Sheryl Lee Ralph, and featuring Robert Townsend.

[12] Rolle's family donated over 100 items of hers to the African-American Research Library and Cultural Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.