Sherman Hemsley(1938-2012)
- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Soundtrack
Sherman Hemsley played characters known to be wise-cracking, "Weezy"
loving, boisterous fools which America and the entire
world laughed with kindheartedly. Sherman Alexander Hemsley, Air Force
veteran and actor, was born on Feb. 1, 1938 in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. His father, William Hemsley, worked at a printing press
while his mother worked at various factories during the war. As a
child, Hemsley was introduced to acting during school where the
teachers would ask students to play different characters. The first
play he did as a kid in school was about fire prevention and Hemsley
played the fire. He eventually ended up dropping out of school and
joined the Air Force. During his adolescence he never considered acting
as a profession until after he served in the military. Hemsley then
moved from south Philadelphia where he had spent most of his life to
New York City. He worked graveyard shift as a post office clerk during the night and
actor during the day. He considered New York the best place to be as
it had several acting workshops and theater companies such as The Negro
Ensemble Company (NEC)founded by Robert Hooks which helped
actors/actresses obtain roles on theater, television and movies. His
former co-star, Roxie Roker, was also part
of the NEC alumni. Hemsley made his professional acting debut on the
Broadway play, Purlie, and toured with the show for a year. In 1971,
while on tour for Purlie, he received a call from
producer/creator/writer Norman Lear. Lear
wanted Hemsley to audition for a role which was going to be part of his
sitcom
All in the Family (1971).
Due to his commitment to the Purlie project, Hemsley declined the role.
Norman Lear said he would have the role open for him and Hemsley joined
the cast two years later. Hemsley and co-star,
Isabel Sanford were chosen to do a spin
off of the show All In The Family called
The Jeffersons (1975). Despite
the age difference between Hemsley and Sanford (twenty years apart),
many described their on-screen marriage as truly hilarious. Hemsley was
nominated for a Golden Globe for his outstanding performance as George
Jefferson. The Jeffersons turned out to be a success spanning eleven
seasons ending in 1985. After The Jeffersons, Hemsley steadily started
working on other projects and in 1986 joined the NBC sitcom
Amen (1986) where he played religious
deacon Ernest Frye. The show ran for five seasons until 1991. Hemsley
then made his debut as a voice actor as part of the ABC live
action-puppet series,
Dinosaurs (1991). Hemsley played
Bradley P. Richfield, Earl's cruel boss. The show ran successfully for
four seasons. In 1997, the remaining cast of The Jeffersons had a
reunion on the Rolonda (1994) talk
show, still having the same charm they did decades ago. Isabel Sanford
and Sherman Hemsley made television guest appearances together on
well-known television programs such as
The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1990)
and were in commercials for The Gap, Old Navy and Denny's. Hemsley and
Marla Gibbs guest starred on the TBS show
House of Payne (2006) in 2011.
Sherman Hemsley will be remembered as an actor who was on shows that
addressed serious issues but also one who brought laughter into homes
every week.