Penny Gordon Woods

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Millicent "Penny" Gordon Woods was a character in the television series Good Times. She was played by Janet Jackson in her first acting role.

[edit] Abused and neglected

Penny, whose real name is Millicent, grew up in a single parent household, and the experience wasn't pleasant. She was abused by her mother, Lonetta Gordon (played by Chip Fields), and had no defense against it. Mrs. Gordon had a tendency to be somewhat selfish.

She caught the city bus from school and met up with J.J. Evans whom she developed an instant crush on. She also got to know J.J.'s sister, Thelma and their younger brother, Michael. They were the loving family that she had always dreamed of.

The person, however, who developed a real maternal instinct for her was J.J.'s mother's best friend, next-door neighbor, and now their surrogate mother, Willona Woods.

Penny had been burned with an iron, along with other bruises and burns on her back and arms, because of her mother's violent temper. Like most abused children, Penny would go so far as to defend her mother, even lying for her, for fear that the abuse would worsen if she didn't.

One day, while preparing for a school carnival, Willona and the Evanses found Penny sobbing outside of their apartment door. She felt her arm, and Penny shrieked. It seemed to be broken.

Deeply worried, the family took her to see a doctor at a nearby emergency room, but the doctor was not sympathetic. Nonetheless, a determined Willona was convinced that something was not right. So she called the Department of Children and Family Services and enlisted the aid of a social worker; a white woman name of Mrs. Carpenter, who was more than helpful.

That same day, Mrs. Gordon stormed into the Evanses' apartment, accused Willona of kidnapping, threatened her with the police, and then ran off and took Penny with her. Later, Penny broke away from her, and hid in a closet in the Evanses' home.

Once again, Mrs. Gordon barged into the apartment and had a violent argument with both Willona and Thelma over Penny's welfare. In a fury, Willona outright declared her to be unfit. "You don't own the rights or the patents on scuffling!" Willona told Mrs. Gordon, sternly.

Finally Mrs. Gordon completely lost all control, and she started shaking Penny mercilessly while screaming at her at the top of her lungs, to the horror of all present, even the usually unflappable J.J. Shocked by her own behavior, she then ran out of the apartment, and left the building, basically abandoning her, even going so far as to say Penny deserved better than her.

Willona and the Evanses did everything they could to help the emotionally shattered youngster; J.J. even going so far as to do a hilarious imitation of a fly flying into a cloud of Black Flag fly killer. This put a smile on Penny's face, not to mention everyone else's face.

Willona went through the proper channels to get Penny adopted and to give her a home and a sense of love, something that she had sorely lacked. Although it was almost derailed by the building's scheming superintendent, Nathan Bookman, Willona succeeded.

She was absolutely thrilled. Here was someone whom she could truly love. Because of Penny, Willona became more level-headed and more stable, even going so far as to slow down her constant dating; devoting all her energy to giving her new adopted daughter the love her own mother never gave her.

When Florida Evans returned to Chicago, Illinois for Thelma's wedding, she met Penny and became quite fond of the young girl. She became the surrogate little sister of the Evans family.

Although things for the most part between Penny and her mother were over, she made one final attempt to get her back, trying to set Willona up as an unfit mother. To that end, Mrs. Gordon hired a man to come on to Willona and pose as her boyfriend. The plan began to unravel at a party they threw in Willona's apartment. The police and the smug Mrs. Gordon showed up at the door, as the man told the officers he did not know Willona. Which was a brazen lie. She also revealed to Willona and Penny that she had met and fallen in love with a very wealthy man while she had been gone, which was how she had financed the entire scheme to discredit Willona as an unfit mother.

A final confrontation with Willona ensued, in which the truly conniving Mrs. Gordon spoke a lot of angry words and threatened to take Willona to court to get Penny back. What she didn't count on was her own daughter tape recording the entire conversation, which gave her adoptive mother enough evidence to use against Mrs. Gordon if need be. After Penny gave a tearful declaration saying that no matter what anyone said, she would consider Willona as her mother, Mrs. Gordon, devastated, left the apartment shortly after, never to be heard from again. After that, Penny and Willona's bond as mother and daughter was stronger than ever.

When the show ended, Penny and Willona moved into a large luxury apartment building in a fancy neighborhood of Chicago with Thelma, her new husband, professional football player Keith Anderson, and her mother's best friend, Florida.