Sherman Alexander Hemsley was born in Philadelphia on Feb. 1, 1938. He dropped out of Edward W. Bok Technical High School in the 10th grade to join the Air Force and was stationed in Asia after the Korean War. He returned to Philadelphia after his discharge and, while working at the post office, attended Philadelphia’s Academy of Dramatic Arts in the evening._____
In 1967, encouraged by the actor and director Robert Hooks, Mr. Hemsley moved to New York to pursue an acting career. He joined the Negro Ensemble Company, studied with the renowned actor and director Lloyd Richards (later dean of the Yale School of Drama) and performed with Vinette Carroll’s Urban Arts Corps. He also appeared in Off Broadway productions. In one — a double bill of “Old Judge Mose Is Dead” and “Moon on a Rainbow Shawl” (1969) — he drew praise from The New York Times, which called him “an actor whose instinct for the comic line and the comic gesture, even the comic lift of an eyelash, is wholly natural and just about perfect.”
Mr. Hemsley’s big break came a year later when he was cast in the Broadway musical “Purlie.” When Norman Lear was looking for an actor to play Archie Bunker’s neighbor, he remembered seeing Mr. Hemsley in that show.
Another popular seventies actor has died: Chad Everett, 75, best remembered for his role in the television series Medical Center, of lung cancer, according to his daughter. He had battled it for a year-and-a-half.
His wife of 45 years, Shelby, passed away last year:
Everett's interest in acting began in high school, when he took theater classes in Dearborn, Mich. Everett then attended Wayne State University before moving to Los Angeles and signing a Warner Bros. contract. According to his agent, Everett -- born Raymon Lee Cramton on June 11, 1936 -- changed his name because he was tired of explaining "Raymon, no 'D', Cramton, no 'P.'"_____
He began his career with a small role on the detective drama "Surfside 6," and he followed that with a more notable part in "Claudelle Inglish."
A conservative Republican, Everett made headlines in 1972 after going toe to toe with Lily Tomlin on "The Dick Cavett Show." Tomlin, a feminist, became outraged after Everett referred to his wife, horse and dog as his "property." A 1977 Time magazine profile on Tomlin says she was so infuriated that she "stunned even herself" by storming off the set.
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