Sherman 'George Jefferson' Hemsley Dies Aged 74

Sherman Hemsley was born in South Philadelphia in 1938, but it was his character, George Jefferson's biography that almost became synonymous with his own, as he played the character in 1973's All In The Family, generating a spin-off The Jeffersons which ran from 1975-1985.
After a brief stage career Hemsley joined the sitcom All In The Family, playing the character of George Jefferson, who was born in Harlem in 1929, and became a self-made entrepeneur, starting up a successful firm of dry-cleaners. Obnoxious and schemeing, usually with great comedic results, Jefferson and wife Louise (Isabel Sandford) received their own show in 1975, The Jeffersons.
The Jeffersons became the longest running sitcom on American television with a predominantly black cast, the character of George becoming so iconic that First Lady Michelle Obama even referenced the character in a 2008 interview.
However the show's success and the popularity of the character led Helmsley, like many sitcom actors, to become typecast. After the end of The Jeffersons in 1985 the actor ended up playing a similar character in Amen, a show which saw an unscrupulous church deacon behaving in much the same way as Jefferson had.
After this Hemsley largely retired from acting, reprising the George Jefferson character in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and for commercials. He had previously been a jazz keyboardist, and released albums in 1989 and 1992.
Hemsley died on July 24, 2012, at the age of 74 at his home in El Paso, Texas, reportedly of natural causes.

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