SHERMAN HEMSLEY PERFORMANCING “AIN’T THAT A KICK IN THE HEAD” FROM HIS ALBUM “DANCE” But he left a towering image on the small screen. Off the stage, he led a quiet, largely private life in out-of-the-way El Paso. He was also a musician, releasing an album called “Dance” in 1992, though his own taste ran more toward 1970s rock bands like Genesis and Yes. Hemsley kept working after it ended, notably in a five-year run on the NBC show “Amen” and as the voice of the triceratops on ABC’s “Dinosaurs.” Sherman Hemsley debuted his role of George Jefferson in the legendary show, “All in the Family.” He and Sanford reunited several times over the years, on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” and in commercials for Old Navy and the Gap.
Over the years, the George Jefferson character softened somewhat and the show segued from sharper social commentary to a more traditional family sitcom. Lear kept the role warm by creating a Jefferson brother, Henry, who disappeared when Hemsley agreed to play George in 1973. Nanny, was another taste of stardom for Sherman Hemsley, seen here with Hulk Hogan in 1993. So Lear held the part open for two years, while “Purlie” finished its Broadway run and then did a road tour. Hemsley declined, saying he didn’t want to give up the security of Broadway for television. After moving to New York and working with the Negro Ensemble Company, he landed his first Broadway role in 1971 with “Purlie.” “All in the Family” creator Norman Lear saw him there and offered him the role of George Jefferson that same year.
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Here he is seem during the 1998 TV Land Upfront at Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles. Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic, Inc Sherman Hemsley stayed active in TV. Hemsley was born in South Philadelphia and served in the Air Force before graduating and taking a job with the Post Office while he studied acting. Lionel wanted to know why Dad would hit him, and Weezy said it was because she didn’t know where she’d throw him. She once told their son Lionel to go to his room so George wouldn’t hit him. Like all good sitcom men, he was also subject to regular deflation by his wife, Louise, known as Weezy.
Isabel Sanford and Sherman Hemsley played the bickering, loving couple on “The Jeffersons” from 1975 to 1985. He became a more effective answer to Archie’s bigotry not because he was noble and perfect, but because he also had dimension, quirks, strengths and weaknesses. This made him one of television’s first angry black characters, and while some of that anger was blunted with a comic edge, his legitimate frustration over America’s racial situation was hard to miss. He was cranky, impatient and prone to speaking without thinking - though he was also more clever and calculating than Archie. Because he first played in counterpoint to Archie Bunker, and because both had the exaggerated personalities of sitcom characters, George Jefferson shared many of Archie’s traits. George Jefferson was not the first black character on television, but he remains one of the most indelible. Hemsley played Jefferson for two years on “All in the Family,” from 1973-75, then starred opposite Isabel Sanford from 1975 to 1985 on their own spinoff, “The Jeffersons.” Isabel Sanford died in 2004 at age 86. Police said Hemsley was discovered by his nurse and apparently died of natural causes. Sherman Hemsley, who as George Jefferson ensured that black folks would never again be invisible on television, died Tuesday at his El Paso home.
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