After an outpouring of support around the country for “Jeffersons” star Sherman Hemsley when he died more than a month ago, Hemsley’s body is still sitting in a refrigerator in Texas while his family and associates fight over his will.
Hemsley died of lung cancer on July 24 at his home in El Paso, Texas, at the age of 74. According to the Associated Press, in his will he left his estate—valued at over $50,000—to Flora Enchinton, whom he called his “beloved partner” in the will. She told A.P. that she had been his friend and manager for more than 20 years.
But a man in Philadelphia named Richard Thornton claims that he is Hemsley’s brother and he is contesting the will.
Enchinton said in the decades she was close to Hemsley, including living with him and another friend Kenny Johnston for a time in Los Angeles when Hemsley didn’t have any money, he never mentioned having a brother—or any relatives.
“Some people come out of the woodwork — they think Sherman, they think money,” Enchinton said to the A.P. “But the fact it that I did not know Sherman when he was in the limelight. I met them when they (Hemsley and Johnston) came running from Los Angeles with not one penny, when there was nothing but struggle.”
Enchinton said she hopes the entire matter can be cleared up in court, though no court date has been set.
In the meantime, Hemsley’s body sits in a refrigerator in an El Paso funeral home, awaiting burial.
“George Jefferson,” one of the most memorable characters in television history, was created by the television pioneer Norman Lear to play a next-door neighbor and foil for the racist Archie Bunker on All in the Family. Lear made Jefferson just as flawed as Bunker—perhaps to increase the comic possibilities but also to make both of them acceptable to America. When The Jefferson’s moved on up to their own spinoff, George became a symbol of a new breed of black man—a business owner and entrepreneur who wasn’t afraid to speak his mind, no matter who he offended. In fact, George even sometimes referred to blacks as “niggers” on the show.
Whenever George got too ridiculous, there was always his wife Weezy to put him in his place. Isabel Sanford, who was actually 20 years older than Hemsley, died in 2004 at the age of 86.
Hemsley was born in South Philadelphia and dropped out of high school to join the Air Force. When he returned to Philly, he worked for the post office while taking acting classes at night, eventually making his Broadway debut in Purlie.
After the Jeffersons, the theatrically trained Hemsley went on to play a church deacon in the sitcom Amen, which stayed on the air for five years.
Hemsley, who had no wife or children, was also a professional singer who released a single in 1989 on Sutra Record called “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” in 1989. In 1992, he released Dance, an R&B album.
