Close%20enough...- Link??
- Was he gay?
- His partner of 27 years was Tam O'Shaunessy!
Spooky%21
- I hope Ja'net Dubois hums/sings that somber closing theme.
- link
http://www.tmz.com/2012/07/24/sherman-hemsley-dead-dies-the-jeffersons/
- Deluxe apartment in the sky, et cetera, all the headlines, the end.
- Movin' on up to the ultimate apartment in the sky.
- El Paso?
- What R6 said.
Everyone is going to use that hackneyed line and think it's funny.
- He was only eleven years older than Mike Evans, who played his son.
Anonymous
- So Marla Gibbs is the only cast member left?
- Both Lionels are dead, R11?
- Jennie (Berlinda Tolbert) is still alive and she and Lamont had a kid. (after I stopped watching).The kid is still alive
Second Lamont (Damon Evans).
Alan Willis (Jay Hamer)
- I could never decide whether I preferred first or second Lamont.
I know I preferred first Darrin Stevens, and second Becky Connor. But which Lamont was better I cannot say.
- Mike Evans is dead,Damon Evans is not.
- who is lamont? Wasn't he on Sanford and Son?
Anonymous
- Marla Gibbs is the only main cast member still alive. The second Lamont (the son) is still alive; but he's the only one out of the secondary cast.
- Moving on up!
- Berlinda Tolbert (Jenny), Marla Gibbs (Florence), Ned Wertimer (Ralph the doorman) and Damon Evans (2nd Lionel) are the surviving cast members. Wertimer will be 89 later this year. Gibbs is 81.
- I used to live near the Jeffersons' building that was used in the opening credits, and it really isn't all that (it looks exactly the same today). I used to wonder why they chose that particular building, when there were much nicer ones in the neighborhood.
- It's Lionel. I used to watch The Jeffersons with a couple of Yugoslavians and they would burst out laughing everytime it was said as Lionel is vulgar slang for feces in their language.
- I was very surprised to read in one of the reports that Hemsley only received a single Emmy nomination and never won. He certainly deserved an Emmy for his performances as George.
- Did he break up with the remaining person in the threeway relationship he was a part of? I don't remember whether it was the male or female partner who had died. It should be part of his obituary. Interestingly, Kaye Ballard is in the same kind of arrangement.
- I thought he had gone a few years ago.
- I agree r22.
I recommend watching the Emmy TV Legends segments for the Jefferson's cast members on Youtube. Isabel Sanford was interviewed before she died. Marla Gibbs' full interview is up also.
They all have very interesting life stories. Marla Gibbs was still working at a call center for American Airlines when she was taping her first seasons of The Jeffersons. Isabel was catching buses to film 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner' in 1967 and Katharine Hepburn insisted that she take her car service instead.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DjOJNMbHhouU
- why did he have a nurse? what did he die from?
- He was great on AMEN too.
This clip with Nell Carter never fails to crack me up. I wish Nell had lived longer.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq6nQubo3n0
- I think he was older than 74.
But, RIP George!
- He'll never see 74 again.
(Come to think of it, he'll never see any age again.)
- George Jefferson's son was LIONEL not LAMONT! Lamont was Fred Sanford's son! Don't you people know any classic tv sitcom trivia?
As for the two Lionels...well, Mike Evans was definitely superior to Damon Evans. Mike Evan's Lionel was handsome and charming and endearing and funny. He really did the role justice. Damon Evans was definitely less attractive and came across as just an annoying goof. For some reason Damon Evan's acting style always reminded me of Stepin Fetchit. Yes, the original Lionel was much better.
- He was gay but I'm having trouble getting people to believe it. James from Goodtimes is gay too, right?
- Didn't James have some blond twink soap opera lover?
I read that on DL, so it must be true.
- wrong show r4, there was no somber version of The Jefferson's theme song. That was Good Times.
At any rate, this saddens me. Not a good year to be a black entertainer, or a fan of black entertainers. Don, Whitney, Donna, Sherman, Yvette Wilson, and Etta...
- YIKES
- Weezy was old enough to be his mother.
- Don't just stand there, shorty -- get down!
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaQQfv9kg48k
- "El Paso?"
Yeah, R8. He has had a partner there for many years. At first he would divide his time between Los Angeles and El Paso, claiming that it was for his "music career" and because of the relaxed vibe of the city, but it was really a cover for living with his partner. He eventually moved there full time.
- Speaking of Marla Gibbs, the last time I saw her was on Passions. She was still very funny--in a part that could have been written for LaWanda Page.
She played the aunt of Dr. Eve Russell who knew all Eve's dirty secrets. Gibbs was constantly calling her a back-slidden slut, a white man's whorin' dope fiend, etc.
- The first Lamont (Michael Evans) was better suited for the role. Was he fired or did he leave of his own choosing?
- Maybe he got confused by people calling him "Lamont" and he decided to replace Demond Wilson on "Sanford and Son."
You%27re%20all%20idiots...
- Idiot, the son was named Willis.
- Did he ever come out?
- Mike Evans, the original Lionel created Good Times. So he left the Jeffersons to work on that show.
Yes, there was a slower version of the theme song of the Jefferson in the closing credits. C'mom people.
- Willis was the white neighbor.
- Here was the closing theme. FF to the 13:20 mark, and you'll be humming it all night!
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DyoJz4DdvHo8
Weezie%2C%20down%20at%20the%20Help%20Centah%21
- And now Chad Everett too.
All our 70s TV friends...
- I think the second Lionel said in an interview he is a gay ex-druggie and (I think) living with HIV
- I love Chat Everett :-(
- Now Chad Everett has passed! Very surprised by this because he always looked fit. But I guess he was an alcholic and a republican and drove Lily Tomlin from the set of the Dick Cavett Show with his misogyny. Strange. Wasn't Lyle Waggoner also extremely misogynistic? The ladies loved them. I was always a fan of the boss John(?) Daly. His was the first gay scandal I remember besides the Rock Hudson/Gomer Pyle rumor. Anyway, it seems Chad was kind of a jerk. Too bad. He was always so cute. My other crush from that period James McArthur also wound up dying unexpectedly.
- He's with dear poor Dana Plato now.
- Everyone knew Plato was doomed. It was a 'so it finally happened' occurance.
- And yet another member of the 74 club.
- Everett was a religious movie of the week host for TBN. Wasn't he also the originator of the phrase "I'm not a doctor but I play one on TV"? A huckster to the end.
- He played a gay cop on Cold Case. He still looked good for his age.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DaFDI9WO8f40
- I will miss Sherman Hemsley.
I just have to watch the reruns now.
http://www.hotmalecelebrityblog.com
FUNNYTODD
- He was like all WEEZY!! And then he was gone.
Hemsley%20family%20member
- Sherman Hemsley in PURLIE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1mR3uyhuFJ0
- The man could groove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3DMKHY3pMEUJs
- The man could groove.
http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Ffeature%3Dplayer_embedded%26v%3DMKHY3pMEUJs
- Hemsley was totally gay. I sat next to him on a plane years ago and it was very obvious. He wasn't closeted in his private life.
- My mother grew up with Lionel 2. They used to play together as kids.
John Amos was only a few years older than Jimmy Walker too, so that's something Good Times and The Jeffersons have in common, other than Mike Evans (Lionel 1) was a co-creator of Good Times.
- Mike Evans was definitely the better Lionel. He returned to the show after a few years but by then, Lionel and Jenny were being phased out.
Lionel Jefferson also has the distinction of being onscreen BEFORE Archie Bunker in the pilot of "All in the Family."
- I read that he actually lived on the East Side of El Paso. So, he did actually move on up to the East Side.
- NPR did a ten minute story on him and never once mentioned his personal life. I was disappointed.
- R20 -- if you're asking why the show's producers chose that building, I don't know. But they ran the pilot of the show (part of a marathon IHO Hemsley) and Jefferson mentions his newest store is on the first floor of the building they've just moved into.
- Did anyone ever get around to burying him yet?
