Some celebrities come into our homes through the TV screens, but end up winning over our hearts more than anything.
Such a celebrity is also the late Sherman Hemsley, who was most famous for his role in the popular sitcom The Jefferson’s.
Early Years
Sherman Alexander Hemsley was born on February 1st 1938 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was brought up by his mother who had a job in the lamp factory.
His father was never present during his childhood, and he met him for the first time when he was 14 years old. This was a very deal for Sherman, and he never gotten over the fact that his father wasn’t present.
He went to the Barrat Middle school and also the Central High School. In his tenth grade he was at the Technical High School. Sherman never finished his high school and went on to become an Air Force member, where he spent a total of four years.
After he left Air Force, he went back to his home town and worked in a post office for several years. At day he went to the Academy of Dramatic Arts, and during the night he worked to pay his debts.
After finishing the Academy, he went back to New York, where he worked as an actor during the night. His first performance was in the Purlie Broadway show.
Sherman Hemsley is portraying characters considered to be wise-cracking, embracing “weezy,” boisterous idiots mocked gently to America and the whole planet.
His uncle, William Hemsley, worked in a printing press while during the war his mother worked in different factories. As a baby, during class, Hemsley was exposed to acting when teachers would tell students to play various characters.
The first game he did at college as a child was about fire prevention, and Hemsley was playing the flame. He eventually dropped out of school and entered the Air Force.
Since there is no more information about Sherman, we are going to continue onto his career path and net worth, to see how he became such a famous actor.
Career Path
The first works as an actor came to the theater in Broadway and only in 1972 at the age of 34 did he manage to make his debut in the Arcibaldo sitcom. From one of Arcibaldo’s ribs I Jefferson was born, one of the first American sitcoms focused on an African American family.
Sherman was chosen as the protagonist along with the inseparable Isabel Sanford and the Jefferson’s had a remarkable success for ten years and 253 episodes.
After the end of I Jefferson, Sherman played the deacon Ernest Frye in Amen, a comedy inspired by a church in Philadelphia, the actor’s hometown. Amen was broadcast for 5 years.
During the 1990s he retired from acting for a while and appeared few times in smaller roles and commercials.
In 2001, he appeared as one of the contestants on the Celebrity Classic TV Edition, on ABS and won a total of 125$ thousand. All the money je had won went to charity. Sherman also appeared in the Sister, Sister in a role of Ray Campbell’s father.
He also borrowed his voice in the TV comedy Family Guy. In 2012, he became a member of the Television Academy Hall of Fame. Another love of his is music. He released a single called Ain’t that a kick in the head, in 1989, and the song went well by the audience and the critics.
In the 1992 he came out with an Album “Dance” that was a combination of rhythm and blues. After his departure from tv, he and fellow actor Isabel Sanford took over the position of guest at comedy The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, The Gap, Denny’s and Old Navy in the 1990’s and early 2000s.
In 1995 he starred as Grandpa Campbell, Ray Campbell’s uncle at Sister’s primetime show, and had his voice sound as he had been in the family guy. In 2009, he starred in a TV movie called “The Book of Love” through American Pie Presents. In the 2011 Tyler Perry’s House of Payne he and Marla Gibbs reprised their Jefferson’s appearances.
In the following years Sherman Hemsley continued to work tirelessly and took part in highly successful films and television series: American Pie, Love Boat, Willy-The Prince of Bel Air and many others.
Nominated to the Jefferson’s for Emmy in 1984 and a Golden Globe for The Jefferson’s in 1985, he earned a NAACP Image Award in 1982. In 2012, Sherman Hemsley was interred in his hometown in El Paso, Texas, in the Fort Bliss National Cemetery.
His net worth is estimated at around 3$ million and most of the money comes from his long-term career in the movies and TV shows. Besides that, he has had several appearances in popular commercials and advertisements in the USA.
Personal life
On that predicament, one could not imagine anything that George Jefferson, the savvy man who “moving’ on” on the 1970’s television hit The Jefferson, would have told us. For the last 3 1/2 months the corpse of Sherman Hemsley, an actor playing George Jefferson, has sat on fire. Since he died of lung cancer on July 24, 2012, at the age of 74, his remains have been refrigerated.
Why is this so? This was because the legitimacy of Hemsley’s will was contested by a man claiming to be his half-brother at the trial. Hemsley was willing to leave it all to his former business partner and close friend Flora Enchinton, just six weeks before he died. No other kin member had Sherman Hemsley.
Enchinton was against Thornton, who disgraced his claims and accused Thornton of playing for money. She says she was close and Hemsley, and never said he had a brother. She just wanted to give a fitting funeral to Hemsley.
Sherman Alexander Hemsley was born in Philadelphia on 1 February 1938 and died in El Paso on 24 July 2012. In his life he never married and never had children.
The most popular TV star is Sherman Hemsley. George Jefferson’s role was portrayed in the All in the Family and The Jefferson’s television series. He became known for performing with Isabel Sanford at The Jefferson’s. During the day, he practiced acting at the post office.
He’s one of the popular TV stars at CELEBS TREND NOW. He is on the register of the famous people born on February 1, 1938. He is one of PA’s most wealthy TV actors. He is also on the list of the most popular television broadcasters. Family Only in 1952 did he meet his father. He never got married and didn’t have kids. He didn’t share it.
Sherman left school early to join the US Army, served as a military man in Japan and Korea. Once he was discharged he started working as a postman and in his free time he studied acting to realize his dream.
American actor Sherman Hemsley, popular for his role as George Jefferson in the CBS comic series “The Jefferson’s,” died at age 74 at his home in El Paso, Texas.
Hemsley apparently died of natural causes and his body was found by the nurse who took care of him, who initially thought that the veteran actor slept, adds the aforementioned website, which cites police sources.
“The Jefferson’s”, released in 1975 and that remained on the air for 11 seasons, was a series derived from “All in the Family”, and immediately reaped great public success thanks to its funny scripts, which told the adventures of a marriage African-American “new rich” who has just moved to an apartment in a luxury building in Manhattan.
Hemsley has had a musical career as well as writing. A single track, Ain’t That a Kick in the Head was issued in 1989 and followed with Dance in 1992, a blues and rhythm song.
Hemsley never got married to a very private man and had children. His home town, El Paso, Texas, prevailed in cancer in July 2012. His death caused a legal battle between the Hemsley estate’s designated successor Flora Enchinton and his son Richer Thornton, an approximate $50,000 heir to a estate. In July 2012, Enchinton was awarded the property rights by a court.
Born in Philadelphia and with theatrical training, Sherman Hemsley devoted almost four decades of interpretive career to television, where he appeared in series such as “Amen”, “The Prince of Bel Air” and “Dinosaurs.”
Throughout his personal life, Hemsley was notoriously shy and discreet, even referring to Hemsley as a “reclusive” man. He did not stay at the Hollywood lights and shared very little information of his life but was single and had no children.
In a rare interview with the American Television Library, he found out that it was difficult to play with George Jefferson, possibly because the protagonist was unable to adapt to the situations. Hemsley had very few close friends and kept his working life apart from him.
He was 74 years old when Hemsley died on 24 July 2012. A cancerous mass of its lung caused his death according to the El Paso County Medical Examiner’s medical report. Flora Isela Enchinton, the sole beneficiary of the will of Hemsley, said that during their friendship Hemsley never mentioned relatives.
Richard Thorton, a person in Philadelphia, pretended to be his son, but Thorton was punished by him. He is actually buried in El Paso, Texas, at the Fort Bliss National Cemetery.
Quick summary
Full name: Sherman Hemsley
Date of birth: February 1, 1938
Birthplace: Philadelphia, USA
Age: 74 (died)
Profession: Rapper
Height: 1.68m
Weight: 75 kg
Net Worth: 6$ million