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Summary George Jefferson was a bigot, loudmouth, rude and yet a beloved character in television history.
Much of that credit belongs to Sherman Hemsley, the gifted character actor who gave life to the blustering black Harlem businessman on The Jeffersons, one of TVs longest running and most successful sitcoms particularly noteworthy with its mostly black cast.Hemsley, who police said late Tuesday died at his home in Texas at age 74, first played George Jefferson on the CBS show All in the Family before he was spun off onto The Jeffersons. The sitcom ran for 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985.With the gospel-style theme song of Movin On Up, the hit show depicted a wealthy couple as they made their way on New Yorks Upper East Side. Hemsley and the Jeffersons (Isabel Sanford played his wife) often dealt with contemporary issues of racism, but more frequently reveled in the sitcom archetype of a short-tempered, opinionated patriarch trying, often unsuccessfully, to control his family.Hemsleys feisty, diminutive father with an exaggerated strut was a kind of black corollary to Archie Bunker of All in the Family a stubborn, high-strung man who had a deep dislike for whites (his favorite word for them was honkies). Yet unlike the blue-collar Bunker, played by Carroll OConnor, he was a successful businessman whose was as rich as he was crass. His wife, Weezie, was often his foil yet provided plenty of zingers as well.Despite the characters many faults money-driven, prejudiced, temperamental, a boor Hemsley managed to make the character endearing, part of the reason it stayed on the air for so long. Much like OConnors portrayal of Archie Bunker, deep down, Hemsleys Jefferson loved his family, his friends (even the ones he relentlessly teased) and had a good heart. His performance was Emmy and Golden Globe nominated.He was a love of a guy and immensely talented, Norman Lear, producer of The Jeffersons and All in the Family, said after learning of his death. El Paso police said the actor was found dead at a home where neighbors said hed lived for years, and that no foul play is suspected.When the Jeffersons moved in next door to the Bunkers, I wanted to deliver the George Jefferson who could stand up to Archie Bunker, Lear recalled Tuesday. It took some weeks before I remembered having seen Sherman in Purlie on Broadway.Hemsley read for the part and the minute he opened his mouth he was George Jefferson, Lear said. Hemsley was smaller than OConnors Archie but he was every bit as strong as Archie, Lear said.Sherman Alexander Hemsley, though, was far less feisty. The son of a printing press-working father and a factory-working mother, Hemsley served in the Air Force and worked for eight years as a clerk for the Postal Service.Having studied acting as an adolescent at the Philadelphia Academy of Dramatic Arts, he began acting in New York workshops and theater companies, including the Negro Ensemble Company. For years, he kept his job at the post office while acting at night, before transitioning to acting full-time.He made his Broadway debut in 1970s Purlie, a musical adaptation of Ossie Davis Jim Crow-era play Purlie Victorious. It was while touring the show that Hemsley was approached by Lear about playing a character on the sitcom that would become All in the Family.Hemsley joined the show in 1973, immediately catapulting himself to a hit character on the enormously popular show. Two years later, The Jeffersons was spun off. Among the numerous All in the Family spin-offs (Maude, Archie Bunkers Place, 704 Hauser), The Jeffersons ran the longest.The character, the owner of a chain of dry-cleaning stores, was devised, Hemsley said, as pompous and feisty.All of it was really hard ... because rude, I dont like to be that way, Hemsley said in a 2003 interview for the Archive of American Television. But it was the character, I had to do it. I had to be true to the character.If I was to pull back something, then it just wouldnt work.After The Jeffersons was abruptly cancelled, Hemsley starred in the sitcom Amen as a fiery Philadelphia church deacon, Ernest Frye. The show latest five years, running 1986 to 1991.Jackee Harry, a longtime friend who made appearances on the show, said she and Hemsley had planned to tour in the musical Aint Misbehavin. She said they had discussed it recently and that he seemed in good health and in good spirits.Its a sad, sad, sad day, she said.She recalled when the two of them were on a Manhattan sidewalk during the era of The Jeffersons, and passers-by went wild.He got mauled and mugged, she laughed. He said, Whats all the screaming about? He was so popular and he didnt even know it.She described him as a very private person unlike George Jefferson. But he was very kind and very sweet, and generous to a fault.Hemsley frequently turned up as a guest on sitcoms like Family Matters, The Hughleys and even, in a voice role, Family Guy. He twice reprised George Jefferson, appearing as his famous character on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and, in 2011, on House of Payne.Hemsley, whose films include 1979s Love at First Bite, 1987s Stewardess School and 1987s Ghost Fever, released an album, Aint That a Kick in the Head, in 1989.In an interview with the Gloucester County Times in 2011, Hemsley said his show business career actually began in childhood.Making people laugh was automatic, he said. I was in a play in elementary school and had to jump up and run away. I was nervous and tripped and fell down and everyone laughed. Their laughter made me relax, so I pretended it was part of the show.I always told my mother I wanted a job where I could have a lot of fun and have a lot of time off, Hemsley added. She asked me where I was going to find that, and I said, I dont know, but its out there.
