In Remembrance: Sherman Hemsley in Game Shows
This afternoon, it was announced that famed television actor Sherman Hemsley had died in his home in El Paso, Texas at the age of 74. He was famous for his role as George Jefferson on the groundbreaking sitcom All in the Family from 1973 to 1975, leaving that series to spin off from that program into its own series The Jeffersons. That show, following the groundbreaking trail its parent series blazed, lasted an impressive 11 seasons on CBS, ending its run in 1985. Hemsley found more success the next year, starring as a deacon on the series Amen lasting another five seasons.
Hemsley’s easy-going nature and ability to entertain so simply made him a natural fit for a game show panelist. He was a celebrity player on a short-lived revival of the Tom Kennedy word game You Don’t Say! in 1975. He appeared now and again in the 1970s on the original Hollywood Squares and showed up thirty years later as an occasional square in the later years of the Tom Bergeron-hosted Squares. In 1999, when The Jeffersons premiered in repeats on Nickelodeon’s primetime/late night network Nick at Nite, Hemsley was a panelist on the Wild Style version of the Nick kids’ game show Figure It Out. His biggest-profile appearance happened in March 2001 when he appeared as one of ten celebrities on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire‘s “Classic TV Week.” He had the dubious honor of being the last – of all ten – to come out of the Fastest Finger round. We have, below, Sherman’s entire game for viewing from the original ABC airing.
Sherman Hemsley on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, 2001:
Feel free to share your favorite Sherman Hemsley moments, game show related or not, below.
And Chad, when Summer Sanders asked Sherman to do a little “HEY WHEEZIE!” Sherman obliged. And he had the honor of getting slimed when the Secret Slime action was “Movin On Up!” Making reference to The Jefferson’s ICONIC theme song.
Correct me if I’m wrong here but didn’t Sherman made a few appearances on Pyramid?
You’re wrong. The only representatives of “The Jeffersons” who appeared on Pyramid were Roxie Roker and Marla Gibbs. They faced each other twice in “The Battle of the Jeffersons”, an ironic name since neither one of them played a Jefferson!
Thanks for the article, Chad. I will always remember Sherman Hemsley as the guy who set the stage for my Who Wants To Be A Millionaire viewing party on September 7, 2001. Hemsley appeared in the hot seat on ABC just before I did. At 8:00 p.m. EDT (7:00 CDT), ABC showed a 90 minute rerun of a celebrity episode, and Hemsley was the last person to reach the hot seat. Then at 9:30 p.m. EDT (8:30 CDT), they showed a special new half-hour episode of just me and my return to the hot seat after the show invited me back because of a bad question in my previous appearance. There was no publicity for my winning episode. A few people later told me that they had been watching the celebrity episode and didn’t notice the transition when my episode started, so they were trying to figure out which celebrity I was and why they didn’t recognize me. Somehow my half hour episode got much higher ratings than the 90 minute episode that it followed. I believe it was the highest rated show of the week. Less than four days later, the 9/11 tragedy made that irrelevant.
I’m sorry to hear the news about Hemsley. I wonder what prompted him to move to El Paso.
Not GS-Related, but Hemsley appeared on All That!
Sadly I’ll always remember him as the half baked sorta rendition of the Toyman on Lois and Clark…not his fault…Lois and Clark never got Superman Villians right beyond Luthor. Was one of those it was so bad it was funny.
Great guy who could act, and yes he did some good GS appearances, his FIO was pretty special…RIP George.
When Sherman appeared on the Tom Bergeron version of Hollywood Squares with his Jeffersons co-star Isabel Sanford, during a start of one of the secret square games as part of a duos week, I thought that both Isabel and Sherman were going to be the secret square in that game, but the secret square were both Tim Conway and the late Harvey Korman from The Carol Burnett Show. R.I.P. Harvey…R.I.P. Sherman. We will miss you in the years to come.