Movin’ On Up

Or

Amen

Sherman Hemsley, inspiration for pimp strutting everywhere, has died at the age of 74. Best remembered as the voice of B.P. Richfield, Earl Sinclair’s terrifying triceratops boss on Dinosaurs, Hemsley got his start in several off-Broadway productions, then caught Norman Lear’s eye on Broadway in the musical Purlie. Introduced as Archie Bunker’s neighbor in Queens on All in the Family, Hemsley’s George Jefferson was a scrappy, combative nouveau riche dry cleaning magnate who managed to move on up to the big leagues, scoring a luxury apartment in Manhattan with his own spin-off, The Jeffersons, which at 11 seasons was one of the longest-running sitcoms with a predominantly black cast. So ingrained with his character, Hemsley played George again on The Fresh of Bel-Air, House of Payne, E/R, Jane Austen’s Mafia and several Old Navy, The Gap and Denny’s commercials with long-suffering Weezy (Isabel Sanford). He later played Deacon Frye, a slight variation on his lived-in George Jefferson image, on Amen. Hemsley’s death leaves only Florence Johnston (Marla Gibbs) and doorman Ralph Hart (Ned Wertimer) alive among the adult regular characters on The Jeffersons.