FILE - In this May 6, 1998 file photo, Isabel Sanford, left, and Sherman Hemsley, stars the television sitcom "The Jeffersons," pose for a photograph in New York. Hemsley, the actor who made the irascible, bigoted George Jefferson of "The Jeffersons" one of television's most memorable characters and a symbol for urban upward mobility, was found dead Tuesday, July 24, 2012 at his El Paso, Texas home. He was 74.(AP Photo/Kathy Willens, File)
July 24, 2012 - 10:06 PM
EL PASO, Texas - Sherman Hemsley, the actor who made the irascible, bigoted George Jefferson of "The Jeffersons" one of television's most memorable characters and a symbol for urban upward mobility, has died. He was 74.
Police in El Paso, Texas, said late Tuesday that Hemsley was found dead at his home. The cause of death is pending.
The Philadelphia-born Hemsley played the blustering black Harlem businessman on CBS's "All in the Family" before he was spun off onto "The Jeffersons," which in 11 seasons from 1975 to 1985 became one of TV's most successful sitcoms — particularly noteworthy with its mostly black cast.
Hemsley and the Jeffersons often dealt with contemporary issues of racism, but more frequently reveled in the sitcom archetype of a short-tempted, opinionated patriarch trying to control his family.
Hemsley later starred in the sitcom "Amen."
News from © The Associated Press, 2012