Sherman Hemsley dead at 74

Added by Monique Robinson on July 24, 2012

Sherman Hemsley, actor in a comedy series “The Jeffersons” that aired between 1975 and 1985, was discovered dead by his nurse.

Sources close to the matter said Hemsely died in his home in El Paso, Texas, USA and is believed to have died of natural causes.

Hemsely gained notoriety during appearances in “All in the Family”, a US comedy that aired from 1971 to 1979. “The Jeffersons” ranked highest in Neilsen Ratings during its 1981-1982 season where it ranked third in the top thirty.

The show ended after CBS canceled the series abruptly. Hemsley said he found out about the show’s cancellation by reading about it in a newspaper. The show was nominated eleven times for an Emmy Award, with a win in 1981 for actress Isabel Sanford (played Louise Jefferson) for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series making her the second African-American actress to win an Emmy Award.

Sherman Hemsley did not have a wife or kids.