Showing posts with label Sherman Hemsley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sherman Hemsley. Show all posts

Sunday, June 02, 2013

Jean Stapleton Passes Away!

Groundbreaking sitcom featuring Carroll O'Conner and Jean Stapleton. CBS comedy All In The Family tackled present day controversies such as racism, homophobia, religious intolerance and economic struggles.

Out of Hollywood, the famed mother of the Bunker household Jean Stapleton died.

One of the CBS Network's most controversial comedies was All In The Family. Besides our current crop of  controversial programs on CBS, All In The Family took on issues such as race, sexuality, nationality, religion, political and economic standings.

Produced by Norman Lear and Bud Yorkin, All in the Family revolved around the life of a working class bigot and his family. It is based on the British television comedy series Till Death Us Do Part.

Despite being considerably softer in its approach than its BBC predecessor, the show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, women's liberation, rape, miscarriage, abortion, breast cancer, the Vietnam War, menopause, and impotence. Through depicting these controversial issues, the series became arguably one of television's most influential comedic programs, as it injected the sitcom format with real-life conflicts.

The show ranked number-one in the yearly Nielsen ratings from 1971 to 1976.

It became the first television series to reach the milestone of having topped the Nielsen ratings for five consecutive years, a mark later matched by The Cosby Show and surpassed by American Idol, which notched eight consecutive seasons at #1.

The episode "Sammy's Visit" was ranked #13 on TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All Time.

TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time ranked All in the Family as #4. Bravo also named the show's protagonist, Archie Bunker, TV's greatest character of all time

Stapleton (born Jeanne Murray; January 19, 1923 – May 31, 2013) was an American character actress of stage, television and film.

She was best known for her portrayal of Edith Bunker, the long-suffering, yet devoted wife of Archie Bunker (played by Carroll O'Connor) and mother of Gloria Stivic (played by Sally Struthers), on the 1970s situation comedy All in the Family.

Stapleton remained with the show all through the original series run but decided to leave before the first season of Archie Bunker's Place had wrapped up. At that point Edith was written out as having suffered a stroke and died off-camera, leaving Archie to deal with the death of his beloved "dingbat".

Stapleton appeared in all but four episodes of All in the Family and had a recurring role during the first season of Archie Bunker's Place.

Stapleton died, surrounded by family and friends, on May 31, 2013 in New York City of natural causes.

She was 90 and is survived by her two children, John, a TV director, and Pamela, a TV producer, and several grandchildren.

Conservatives could relate to Archie Bunker.  Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) was a working-class World War II veteran. He is an outspoken bigot, seemingly prejudiced against everyone who is not a U.S.-born, politically conservative, heterosexual White Anglo-Saxon Protestant male, and dismissive of anyone not in agreement with his view of the world.

By contrast, Archie's wife, Edith (Jean Stapleton), is a sweet and understanding, if somewhat naïve, woman. She usually defers to her husband. On the rare occasions when Edith takes a stand she proves to be one of the wisest characters, as evidenced in the episodes "The Battle of the Month" and "The Games Bunkers Play". Archie often tells her to "stifle" herself and calls her a "dingbat". Despite their different personalities they love each other deeply.

I wasn't around during its run, but I've seen the program on TV Land and syndication. Here's an episode on YouTube. Take discretion in viewing this program. This episode contains controversial themes. It features O'Connell, Stapleton, comedian/director Rob Reiner and Sally Struthers.

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Sherman Hemsley Passes Away


                       
It was reported that Sherman Hemsley, the sarcastic comedian of the breakout television show The Jeffersons, died on Tuesday. He was 74 years old according to the Washington Post. He never married and had no children.

The Jeffersons a spin-off of All In The Family rose to top prominence with issues that tackled drugs, suicide, poverty, racism. gun violence and social themes. With a catchy theme song "We're Movin' On Up!", people got accustomed to George Jefferson, wife Louise (Weezy), son Lionel, housekeeper Florence and the neighbors of the East New York deluxe apartment.

Sherman Hemsley grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 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 acting school at night. He then moved to New York, continuing to work for the Post Office during the day while working as an actor at night.

Sherman Hemsley performed with local groups in Philadelphia before moving to New York to study with Lloyd Richards at the Negro Ensemble Company. Shortly after, he joined Vinnette Carroll's Urban Arts Company appearing in these productions: But Never Jam Today, The Lottery, Old Judge Mose is Dead, Moon On A Rainbow Shawl, Step Lively Boys, Croesus, and The Witch. He made his Broadway debut in Purlie and toured with the show for a year. In the summer of 1972 he joined the Vinnette Carroll musical Sorry, I Can't Cope ensemble in Toronto, followed a month later in the American Conservatory Theater production at the Geary Theater. This production had Hemsley in Act I performing the solo "Lookin' Over From Your Side" and in "Sermon" in Act II.

George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) and Weezy (Isabel Sanford)

Though Hemsley was largely typecast as George Jefferson, he continued to work steadily after the show's cancellation. He teamed up with the show's original cast members when The Jeffersons moved to Broadway for a brief period.

Hemsley joined the cast of NBC's Amen in 1986 as Ernest Frye, an unscrupulous church deacon much like his George Jefferson character. The show enjoyed a run of five seasons, ending in 1991. Hemsley then was a voice actor in the ABC live-action puppet series Dinosaurs, where he played Bradley P. Richfield, main character Earl's sadistic boss. The show ran for five seasons, ending in 1994.

Hemsley largely retired from television acting, although he and Isabel Sanford appeared together in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s, reprising their roles in guest spots on television programs such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, commercials for The Gap, Old Navy and Denny's, and dry cleaning conventions. He and Sanford also made a cameo appearance in the film Sprung. They continued to work together on occasion until Sanford began having health problems leading to her death in 2004.

With Marla Gibbs who played wise cracking housekeeper Florence Johnston, Hemlsey and Sanford were a part of American television's iconic show The Jeffersons.

In recent years prior to his death, Hemsley has made a voice appearance as himself in the Seth McFarlane animated comedy Family Guy. He appeared in the film American Pie Presents: The Book of Love. In 2011, he reprised his role as George Jefferson once again, along with Marla Gibbs as Florence Johnston in Tyler Perry's House of Payne.


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