SHERMAN HEMSLEY AKA GEORGE JEFFERSON
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Sherman Alexander Hemsley (February 1, 1938 – July 24, 2012) was an American actor, most famous for his role as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family and The Jeffersons, and as Deacon Ernest Frye on the NBC series Amen. He also played Earl Sinclair's horrifying boss, a Triceratops named B.P. Richfield, on the Jim Henson sitcom Dinosaurs. "Sherman Hemsley has been pronounced dead El Paso Sheriff's Department has confirmed," the actor's agent Todd Frank said in a statement. Hemsley was born and raised around 22nd and Christian Streets in South Philadelphia by his mother, who worked in a lamp factory.[1] He didn't meet his father until he was 14.[1] He attended Barrat Middle School, Central High School for 9th Grade and Bok Technical High School for 10th, when he dropped out
of school and joined the United States Air Force, where he served for four years. On leaving the Air Force, he returned to Philadelphia where he worked for the Post Office during the day while attending the Academy of Dramatic Arts at night..[1] He then moved to New York, continuing to work for the Post Office during the day while working as an actor at night. He starred as the character Gitlow in the early 1970s Broadway play Purlie. The Jeffersons," a spinoff of creator Norman Lear's more politically-oriented show "All In the Family." In that show, the Jeffersons were introduced as the neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker.
The cause and time of death was not immediately clear, and a sheriff's representative could not be reached for comment. Hemsley's character of George Jefferson was the affluent and sometimes scheming owner of a dry cleaning business who lived in a New York luxury apartment with his wife, Louise. "The Jeffersons" ran from 1975 to 1985, and after that show the Philadelphia-born Hemsley went on to guest star in everything from "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" to a role in the series "Family Guy."