DVD Talk Forum - R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

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Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

One of the great sitcom stars. I'm really surprised to find he was "only" 74, as he seemed to be in his 50s in the Jeffersons run back 35 years ago, I'm surprised to see he was still fairly young then. Guess he was "always" old.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

I really enjoyed The Jeffersons, Helmsley was hilarious.

He was only 37 when the show started, although he did look much older at the time. He grew into it, because he looked pretty much the same for the last 40 years.

Hard to believe that Weezy had more than 20 years on him!

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by clckworang (Post 11321176)

Wow. Project much? How come gay men apparently have a monopoly on loneliness? There are plenty of lonely and miserable heterosexuals out there, even unhappy lesbians! And there also are many people of both sexual orientations who are happy and fulfilled living as a single person. I know, it's shocking, isn't it?

Sherman Hemsley worked during a period where coming out as a homosexual was career and social suicide. Hell, coming out a homosexual is sadly still considered career and social suicide in most parts of the country. It's bullshit, but it is what it is.

RIP Sherman. You were aces in the Dave Chapelle and Norm Macdonald cinematic masterpiece Screwed. :thumbsup:

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sierra Disc (Post 11321299)

I've watched a few movies lately with Walter Brennan. I would put him in the same category. He always seemed old.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamblast (Post 11321232)

It's safe to say the answer to that is yes. I thought the wording in my post was carefully chosen to admit that point.

I guess my point was that I found your level of projection pretty astounding.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

He was one cool dude:

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

RIP. I always watched the show as a kid.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by Matthew Chmiel (Post 11321392)

I'm aware of this. I didn't write anything to dispute that. I just don't automatically fear any male celebrity who dies in his 60s single and without children was gay and lived a closeted life that was lonely and unhappy. :shrug:

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Well, you should also remember that being a "lifelong bachelor" has been the primary euphemism for being gay for, say, most of the last century. It's not for nothing that I worry about all the isolated old guys, being one myself.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamblast (Post 11321406)

Yes, I'm gay and a bachelor as well. I understand. No one needs to explain that to me or homophobia. But not all straight people find love, either. There really are some lifelong bachelors. I just think it's sad to automatically go to "he must have been gay and unhappy."

Gay men don't usually like to be stereotyped (I know I don't), yet you - a gay man - are saying that you automatically go with the stereotype that an older single gentleman is gay. And why does he have to be unhappy just because he's single - gay or straight? I don't get that. And lonely. Someone can't live a fulfilling life without another person attached to the arm?

I don't know if Hemsley was gay. I actually never gave it one thought until this thread here. Like I said, I just found the way you expressed your opinion pretty surprising.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamblast (Post 11321406)

Growing up I remember the phrase "confirmed bachelor," which I took to mean living a life dedicated to seeking out and bedding beautiful women. Imagine my surprise when I started to notice...um...a rather different pattern.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

This is awesome - I guess he was totally into LSD and Prog-Rock!

Quote:

Sherman Hemsley Had An LSD Lab In His Basement

Sherman Hemsley has died. Did you know that George Jefferson was way into acid and very weird prog rock?
Sherman Hemsley Had An LSD Lab In His Basement

Sherman Hemsley has died at age 74. You probably best know him as George Jefferson from The Jeffersons (or maybe Deacon Frye on Amen). What you probably didn't know is that Sherman was a huge fan of bug-out prog rock. How big of a fan? He danced to this Gentle Giant song on the Dinah! show in the 70s:

Yes, George Jefferson was a head.

He wasn't just a fan of prog music - he actually cut an album with YES founder Jon Anderson. Called Festival of Dreams, it has never been released.

Hemsley was pretty evangelical about his prog obsessions. Besides dancing on Dinah! (if someone has that video, please share!), he wore a shirt for the band Nektar while doing press. And he pulled every string he could to hang out with Daevid Allen of the band Gong. Allen later gave an interview to Magnet Magazine where he talked about the bizarre experience of visiting the short TV star and discovering the guy had an acid lab in his basement (which means if you were taking acid in LA in the 70s it may well have been coming from George Jefferson himself:

“It was 1978 or 1979, and Sherman Hemsley kept ringing me up. I didn’t know him from a bar of soap because we didn’t have television in Spain (where I was living). He called me from Hollywood saying, ‘I’m one of your biggest fans and I’m going to fly you here and put flying teapots all up and down the Sunset Strip.’ I thought, ‘This guy is a lunatic.’ He kept it up so I said, ‘Listen, can you get us tickets to L.A. via Jamaica? I want to go there to make a reggae track and have a honeymoon with my new girlfriend.’ He said, ‘Sure! I’ll get you two tickets.’

I thought, ‘Well, even if he’s a nut case at least he’s coming up with the goodies.’ The tickets arrived and we had this great honeymoon in Jamaica. Then we caught the plane across to L.A. We had heard Sherman was a big star, but we didn’t know the details. Coming down the corridor from the plane, I see this black guy with a whole bunch of people running after him trying to get autographs. Anyway, we get into this stretch limousine with Sherman and immediately there’s a big joint being passed around. I say, ‘Sorry man, I don’t smoke.’ Sherman says, ‘You don’t smoke and you’re from Gong?’

Inside the front door of Sherman’s house was a sign saying, ‘Don’t answer the door because it might be the man.’ There were two Puerto Ricans that had a LSD laboratory in his basement, so they were really paranoid. They also had little crack/freebase depots on every floor. Then Sherman says, ‘Come on upstairs and I’ll show you the Flying Teapot room.’ Sherman was very sweet but was surrounded by these really crazy people.

We went up to the top floor and there was this big room with darkened windows and “Flying Teapot” is playing on a tape loop over and over again. There were also three really dumb-looking, very voluptuous Southern gals stoned and wobbling around naked. They were obviously there for the guys to play around with.

[My girlfriend] Maggie and I were really tired and went to our room to go to bed. The room had one mattress with an electric blanket and that was it. No bed covering, no pillow, nothing. The next day we came down and Sherman showed us a couple of [The Jeffersons] episodes.

One of our fans came and rescued us, but not before Sherman took us to see these Hollywood PR people. They said, ‘Well, Mr. Hemsley wants us to get the information we need in order to do these Flying Teapot billboards on Sunset Strip.’ I looked at them and thought they were the cheesiest, most nasty people that I had ever seen in my life and I gave them the runaround. I just wanted out of there. I liked Sherman a lot. He was a very personable, charming guy. I just had a lot of trouble with the people around him.”

RIP, Sherman. You never get strung out in heaven.

http://badassdigest.com/2012/07/24/s...-his-basement/

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Fascinating. Wow, what a character. And if taken at face value, more or less implies the gay speculation to be false.

One begins to wonder, though, if he looked so old at a young age due to being a massive druggie--and I mean that in the most value-neutral way possible, I'm just fascinated by double lives. Heavy drugs really wear out a young white face, at least... I'm probably stretching again.

Anyway, I'm amazed and a little awed that he kept up such a brilliant professional career if his private life was, shall we say, so unique.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

:lol: That was a great article. It sounds like Hemsley would have been a wild one to party with.

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamblast (Post 11321794)

It's all genetics. Some people's appearances are able to withstand these things better than others, and some people just look old, regardless of age or drug use. I don't know for sure which applies to him.

Of course, it also depends on the drugs being used and other factors. I imagine many heavy drug users begin to prematurely age because of other factors associated with drugs, like poor eating and grooming habits, often because of money problems. I imagine Hemsley might have had some advantages in that department.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

You live on the toe nail of Texas? :lol:

The town I live in might be geographically called the bump on the ass of California.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by DJariya (Post 11320987)

Granted I don't know anything about Sherman's personal life because from what I've seen he was a private man, but just because he chose not to marry and have children, it doesn't automatically make him gay.

I'm not saying it...I'm saying that other publications are. THE ADVOCATE had an obit piece that said as much. I could give a rat's ass what his (or anyone's) sexual orientation is...the only time I care is when I'm interested in the person. :)

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Several marathon tributes to Hemsley airing this week and weekend.

http://blog.sitcomsonline.com/2012/0...effersons.html

And a really strange revelation (not LSD strange, but still ...) Hemsley's dream role, which he never got to play, was Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,6105118.story

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sierra Disc (Post 11321299)

Kinda like Wilford Brimley, who is 77, but has looked old for so long that he was one of the "elderly" actors in Cocoon. At the time, Brimley was the same age (50) that Tom Cruise is today.

RIP Sherman Hemsley.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

A comedic legend and a personal idol.

Like Don Knotts and Three's Company it's a crime he wasn't able to create much more great work after Amen since he was looking for work.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

The Jeffersons is as good today as when it first aired, and that's in large part to Sherman Hemsley pulling off the character so well.

Sad to see him go, but he's movin' on up...

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by adamblast (Post 11321941)

You live on the toe nail of Texas? :lol:

The town I live in might be geographically called the bump on the ass of California.

A few more parts and we could assemble a real person. :lol: But yes, I'm in Cameron Country, which is all the way south, very near the border and South Padre Island.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Drexl (Post 11322615)

Wow. That really puts it in perspective. I hadn't thought of it like that, but Brimley is another great example of an "old" actor. I didn't realize he was actually so young in Cocoon. Crazy.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by JuryDuty (Post 11323113)

The Jeffersons is as good today as when it first aired, and that's in large part to Sherman Hemsley pulling off the character so well.

Sad to see him go, but he's movin' on up...

Yep it holds up surprisingly well. I'd put Herman's George Jefferson up there with Ralph Kramden in the Pantheon of great sitcom characters.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thrush (Post 11323669)

Yep it holds up surprisingly well. I'd put Herman's George Jefferson up there with Ralph Kramden in the Pantheon of great sitcom characters.

Totally agree and THANK YOU for saying it.

It sadly seems like so many comedic greats aren't recognized until they die. I'm lamenting how much more great stuff he would hve done if he got more work later in life.

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

:rip: George Jeffersons :(

Re: R.I.P Sherman Hemsley

Sherman Hemsley’s Body Has Been Frozen In El Paso For Two Months Because People Are Fighting Over His Estate

Read more: http://www.uproxx.com/tv/2012/09/she...#ixzz27hOlGGuV