SHORT TAKES : Rolle Donates Time to Short Film

Esther Rolle didn’t mind taking time out of her busy schedule to film a movie for no pay.

The actress donated her time to make “Blackbird Fly,” a 28-minute drama about adolescent sexual abuse that will be broadcast in February.

“It was my feeling that if I don’t do it, who will?” said Rolle, who appeared in “Driving Miss Daisy” and whose television credits include the situation comedy “Good Times.”

Rolle had to work a seven-day week for “Blackbird Fly” and keep up with her regular workweek on “Driving Miss Daisy.”

“I enjoy doing anything I can that might help,” Rolle said in a recent interview. “I hope it does the children some good.”

The film is scheduled to be broadcast Feb. 27 on the Learning Channel and is being screened for Academy Award consideration in the short-film category.

Whoopi Goldberg, who starred in the film “Ghosts,” and Rain Pryor, who appears on ABC’s “Head of the Class,” also appeared in “Blackbird Fly” without pay.