Richmonder Daphne Maxwell Reid guest stars on the "Can't Knock The Hustle" episode of "Bel-Air," airing on Peacock this week. (Photo courtesy Peacock)
Daphne Maxwell Reid is perhaps best known for her role as Aunt Viv from the 1990s NBC sitcom “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” but Richmonders also know her as the former host of the long-running “Virginia Currents” show on VPM public television and as a supporter of the arts. This week, she returns to television in a reboot of the beloved sitcom in a new role, along with fellow “Fresh Prince” alum Vernee Watson-Johnson. In the meantime, she’s done a reboot of her own, focusing on her love of photography and fashion, releasing a limited-edition tote bag commemorating her travels and the silk brocade line Daphne Style.
Richmond magazine spoke with Reid, on location in Puerto Rico filming an episode of “Fantasy Island” (yet another reboot, for Fox), about her artistic projects, her ties to Richmond and her return to a new version of the show that cemented her as America’s favorite aunt.
Richmond magazine: What are your thoughts on the “Fresh Prince” reboot?
Daphne Maxwell Reid: It’s cinematic. It has beautiful sets and great clothes and great actors. It’s very pleasing. But it’s a drama. It’s a whole reimagining of the details of that story that turned into a sitcom.
RM: In “Bel-Air,” Will planned to attend VCU to play basketball. What were your thoughts of Richmond being referenced in the pilot?
Reid: It was wonderful, and it was a surprise to me. My granddaughter just started at VCU this past year. And I also live a couple of blocks from there. It’s wonderful that they talk about it.
RM: Tell me a little about your role as Helen.
Reid: I play a woman who works for the gallery that is giving out fellowships. But I didn’t get to see the new house [and sets]. I was on an office set somewhere.
RM: In addition to acting, you’re a designer and photographer, selling limited-edition tote bags featuring doorways from your international travels. What inspired you to create the tote bags?
Reid: I’ve taken photographs of doors for the past 15 years, and I have had an entire journey of printing doors, and I have four books on the doors that I took [pictures of]. Because of COVID, I could not travel internationally for the past two years, and I needed to do something creative. So I took some of the doors that I had used from around the world, in my books and in my art on people’s walls, and created the fabric, and I printed them, and then I cut them out, and I made the tote bags. They are all handmade by me.
RM: You also have a fashion line, Daphne Style, featuring silk brocade toppers. Why silk brocade toppers?
Reid: I fell in love with the fabric, Chinese silk brocades, and I had been making them myself because they are perfect to wear with anything, jeans or silk. I was stopped in the street so many times and was asked, "Where did you get that?" When I said, "I made that," they would say, "Will you make me one?" and I say, "No." [Laughs] Tim [Reid, her husband,] has a fundraising fashion show that happens every year, and he asked me about five years ago to do a line of coats for his fashion show, and I sold them off the runway. Now I make them custom for people.
RM: In April, you’re moderating the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance’s Annual Women Take the Stage event. How does it feel to be talking to the next generation of women in the arts that you helped pave the way for?
Reid: I absolutely love that as space was made for me, I have made space for others and given opportunities to so many young people. It’s thrilling to see them bloom. It’s kind of purposeful for me to watch whatever I have done to influence someone to move in a certain direction. And I hope the work that I have done is full of integrity and class and it’s a good example for folks to admire and be inspired by.
Daphne Maxwell Reid appears as Helen in season one episode nine of “Bel-Air,” available March 24 on the Peacock streaming network. She will moderate the Richmond Performing Arts Alliance’s event on April 12 at the Carpenter Theatre. Tickets are $50 to $85. For more information, visit rpaalliance.com.
