Sherman, who will always be remembered by his role in The Jeffersons and All in the Family, is a prolific African-American sitcom actor. Sherman hails from South Philadelphia where he was born in February 1, 1938. Hemsley now resides in El Paso, Texas, where he manages a production company. Although Hemsley is a popular actor, information about his personal life is largely kept secret, largely because he managed to keep the public attention focused on the acting part of his life.
Hemsley dropped out of school and joined Air Force. After serving in Air Force for four years, Hemsley returned to South Philadelphia and went to work for the U.S. Post Office for a whopping eight years. During the years at the Post Office, he attended acting school in the evenings. He then moved to New York where he starred in Broadway spectacles, playing the role of Gitlow in the play Purlie. After his Broadway stage play, he went into television with the show All in the Family in 1973, where he played George Jefferson, the neighbor of the main character Archie Bunker.
The public loved Hemsley as George Jefferson and in 1975,
CBS went on creating a spin-off show The Jeffersons for the African-American demographic. Contrary to the producer's expectations, the show gained popularity in white households, too, and went on to critical acclaim to receive numerous Emmys. The Jeffersons stayed on air for a whopping 10 years, until the show was abruptly canceled in 1985. During Hemsley's years in All in the Family, the show topped #1 in Nielsen's ratings, because due to the light content, much less political than in other shows at the time, the public loved the affectionate sitcom that went off air in 1979.
After the cancellation of The Jeffersons, the cast moved to perform on Broadway, and Hemsley was once again on the stage of New York. Their Broadway appearance didn't last too long, and Sherman then went back to television and joined NBC's Amen in 1986 where he portrayed a rude and intolerant head of the family, Deacon Ernest Frye; essentially, Hemsley portrayed a role that was very close to George Jefferson. Amen ended after five seasons and Hemsley then went to perform the voice of Bradley P. Richfield in the puppet series Dinosaurs.
Since then, Hemsley retired from television, but has performed on television in some instances, for example, he was an actor in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, a guest star in Lois and Clark, a doorman in Senseless, etc. After his departure from television, Hemsley also performed in movies, such as 2000s Screwed, 2007s For the Love of A Dog, 2009s American Pie Presents: The Book of Love, etc.
Hemsley is undoubtedly a talented actor and his prolific appearances on Broadway plays and television sitcoms have paved the way for many other African-American actors, both in the U.S. and the rest of the world. Sherman Hemsley was a vivid comedian. His portrayals of stubborn characters were quite remarkable and will surely stay in the memory of a whole generation.
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