El Paso police reported that Sherman Hemsley was found dead yesterday in his home at the age of 74.
For those who don’t know Sherman Helmsley, you do know his history changing sitcom role on The Jeffersons, as George.
The Jeffersons was one of TV’s longest running and most successful sitcoms, and was popular in 1975 for it’s mostly black cast. George’s character was rude, loud, arrogant, and a bit of a miser, and yet he remains one of the most beloved characters in television history.
Helmsley was the son of a printing press-working father and a factory-working mother.
Before his claim to fame, Helmsley served in the Air Force and worked eight years as a clerk for the Postal Service. Helmsley was not married and did not have any children, but will be remembered and missed by a plethora of family and friends.
I imagine him doin’ that classic arms swinging to the back strut into heaven.
They say apart of aging is that the world you are familiar with, becomes more and more unfamiliar. While I don’t consider myself old, but old enough, with the passing of so many pop culture icons from my childhood like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Don Cornelious, now Helmsley, I do see my world taking on a different shape, at times it’s a lil’ scary, but thats the spice of life. (I was born in 81, but from a young age I was a 70′s sitcom fanatic).
Today I remember Sherman Helmsley with this clip from Episode 1 of the Jeffersons in 1975.
Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/entertainment/54552693-81/hemsley-jeffersons-character-family.html.csp
