Sherman Hemsley Movies

When preacher Purlie comes to town, he brings with him all kinds of trouble, from conspiracy to deceit, along with other identity and love absurdities. Termed a "black musical," Purlie exemplifies musical theater of its kind, and this film version is based on the original play by Ossie Davis. Melba Moore, Robert Guillaume, and Sherman Hemsley give strong performances, and the dramatic twists of plot are accentuated by Purlie's outrageous persona. The creative score offers a wide range of grooving musical styles, and has provided abundant success on the stage for this now-filmed tale of breaking the rules. ~ Sarah Sloboda, All Movie Guide

Lionel Jefferson's engagement party promises to be a fun occasion for everyone but Archie, who discovers that Lionel's dad, George Jefferson, does not want to invite him. Even so, Archie attends, only to get into an argument with George's indomitable mother. The episode ends with Archie and George once more finding out they have more in common than either man would wish. Zara Cully makes her first appearance as Mother Jefferson, a role she would carry over into the All in the Family spin-off The Jeffersons. Written by Michael Ross and Bernie West, "Lionel's Engagement" originally aired on February 9, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In the third episode of a four-part story arc, Archie is still out of work as union negotiations continue to go round and round in circles. Despite the Bunkers' nearly empty bank account, Archie is dead set against Edith going to work. When he finally relents, Edith lands a job with dry-cleaning king George Jefferson -- who by no stretch of the imagination could be regarded as Archie's favorite person. Written by Don Nicholl, Michael Ross, and Bernie West, "Edith the Job Hunter" first aired on September 28, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Dennis Patrick guest stars as Scanlon, a slick-talking bunco artist who cons Archie into buying $2000 worth of aluminum siding. By the time Archie realizes he's been hoodwinked -- or at least, by the time he finally listens to reason -- the siding is already being hammered onto the outer walls of his brick house. Will Archie be able to wrest himself free of Scanlon's "iron-clad" contract? The answer comes from an unexpected source. Written by Ron Friedman, "Archie's Contract" first aired on December 7, 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lionel Jefferson is offered a 20,000-dollar-a-year job with an engineering firm (this is in 1975, when 20,000 dollars is still real money!) Dad George (Sherman Hemsley) is delighted at being told of Lionel's good fortune. But George is not so delighted when he learns that Lionel has turned the job down. And what does all of this have to do with the "Wall Street" invoked in the episode's title? ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George and Louise Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley, Isabel Sanford) find themselves with an unexpected dinner guest in the form of George's old Navy buddy Wendell Brown (Louise Gossett Jr.) Laughingly, George recalls that Wendell had quite a reputation as a womanizer. But George stops laughing when Wendell makes a pass at Louise (Isabel Sanford) -- and Louise seems to enjoy the attention. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Lionel (Damon Evans) damages a fender and headlight of his dad's delivery van, but doesn't fess up. When papa George (Sherman Hemsley) sees the damage, he is convinced that he himself is responsible. Misunderstandings segue into panic when George becomes obsessed with notion that "his" fender bender will result in retribution from the Mob. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

It's gloom and doom time at the Jefferson apartment when several of George's (Sherman Hemsley) business enterprises suffer a financial slump. As the household economy spirals into a depression, so does George. Making matters worse are the monetary demands of George's family and employees, not to mention a series of weird nightmares. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This episode focuses on the Jeffersons' interracial neighbors, Tom and Helen Willis (Franklin Cover, Roxie Roker). It seems that Tom's prejudiced white father (Leon Ames) refuses to have anything to do with Helen's prejudiced black father (Fred Pinkard), and vice versa. The Willises join forces with Lionel Jefferson (Damon Evans) to remedy this racial standoff. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Jeffersons' neighbor Harry Bentley (Paul Benedict) is convinced that his girlfriend, Daphne (Melinda Dillon), wants to propose marriage. He spends the rest of the episode hatching schemes to wriggle out of his predicament. Meanwhile, George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) has his own problems in the form of a gimlet-eyed building inspector (René Auberjonois). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Jeffersons' wedding anniversary gets off on the wrong foot when overbearing Mother Jefferson (Zara Cully) pays the couple a visit. Things go from worse to worser when George (Sherman Hemsley) is involved in a bicycle accident. He demands that his wife, Louise (Isabel Sanford), lie to the authorities so that he won't be held responsible for the mishap -- but she flatly refuses. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley) is miffed when his friends claim that he is obsessively devoted to his work. To prove them wrong, George decides to go on his first vacation since striking it rich. He books passage for himself and wife Louise (Isabel Sanford) on a luxury cruise, and for a while the couple eagerly anticipates their exciting getaway. That's when Mother Jefferson (Zara Cully) fouls things up in her inimitable fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The second Norman Lear-produced TV series to be spun off from All in the Family (Maude was the first), The Jeffersons grew out of a character who appeared on the very first episode of Family -- college student Lionel Jefferson (originally played by Mike Evans), the young African-American friend of Mike Stivic, son-in-law of super-bigot Archie Bunker. To Archie's horror, Lionel's entire family moved across the street from the Bunker home in the spring of 1971, and over the next few weeks, viewers were introduced to Lionel's mother Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford), who became the best friend and closest confidante of Archie's wife Edith. Later on, two more Jeffersons made their first appearances: Henry Jefferson (Mel Stewart), Lionel's uncle, who was in many ways as racially prejudiced as Archie Bunker; and, finally, Lionel's father and Louise's husband George Jefferson (Sherman Hemsley), bombastic owner of a string of dry-cleaning establishments. Ultimately Henry Jefferson was written out of All in the Family, whereupon George "inherited" most of Henry's anti-white attitudes.
In the middle of All in the Family's fifth season, the Jeffersons had accumulated enough wealth to move out of Archie Bunker's blue-collar Queens neighborhood and into a "dee-luxe" high-rise apartment on New York's fashionable East Side. This was the status quo when The Jeffersons debuted Saturday, January 18, 1975, as a mid-season replacement for the failed CBS sitcom Paul Sand in Friends and Lovers (ironically, All in the Family had also premiered as a mid-season replacement). In short order, viewers were introduced to the Jefferson's new neighbors: book editor Tom Willis (Franklin Cover), his wife Helen (Roxie Roker), their daughter Jenny (Berlinda Tolbert), and eccentric Englishman Harry Bentley (Paul Benedict), a translator at the UN. The fact that the Willises were an interracial couple (he was white, she was black) served as grist for the mill of George Jefferson's bigotry and wisecracking humor; meanwhile, Lionel fell in love with the Willises' daughter Jenny, much to the dismay of George but to the delight of everyone else. Other recurring characters included George Jefferson's diminutive but overbearing mother (Zara Cully), who made no secret of her disdain for Louise; Ralph Hart (Ned Wertimer), the doorman of the Jeffersons' luxury apartment building, whose hand was ever outstretched for the tip that George habitually denied him; and Florence Johnston (Marla Gibbs), the Jeffersons' sassy maid, who seldom worked any harder than she had to and whose never-ending battle of wits with the irascible George was one of the series' highlights. (Florence was not a "regular" during season one, and in fact would not graduate to that status for several seasons to come.) Despite its late start, The Jeffersons closed out its first season as the fourth highest-rated program on network television, posting a whopping 27.6 audience share (even higher than that enjoyed by M*A*S*H). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide