Movin' On Up

[AUChizad]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/sherman-hemsley-dead-dies-the-jeffersons_n_1699590.html

Sherman Hemsley Dead: 'The Jeffersons' Actor Dies At 74

Sherman Hemsley, known for his starring role in "The Jeffersons," has died at age 74.

Although the cause of Hemsley's death is unclear, TMZ reports that the actor passed away at his El Paso, Texas, home.

Hemsley made a name for himself as George Jefferson, carrying the iconic sitcom for a decade. The actor went on to appear in a handful of other classic television shows including "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" and "The Hughleys."

The sitcom actor was also an accomplished singer and recorded the 1989 single, "Ain't That a Kick in the Head."

Hemsley had no wife or kids.

[Snaggletiger]

To that deluxe apartment in the sky

[Saniflush]

movin' on down

[Godfather]

Just because it's a theme song don't mean it's not true.

[Saniflush]

Just because it's a theme song don't mean it's not true.

I'm a lead farmer muthafucker.

[Godfather]

I'm a lead farmer muthafucker.

I ain't fuckin' with you, Kangaroo Jack. I'm sorry the dingo ate your baby!

[Saniflush]

I ain't fuckin' with you, Kangaroo Jack. I'm sorry the dingo ate your baby!

ou know that's a true story? Lady lost a kid.

[AU_Tiger_2000]

Back on track.  Did anybody else know this about Helmsley?  I know Chapelle used to joke about Angel Dust calling it "Sherman Helmsley", but this is kind of over the top.

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 onDinah! (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.”


Read more at ONTD: http://ohnotheydidnt.livejournal.com/70628808.html#ixzz21e5TmkUc

[Snaggletiger]

A couple of years ago, I was reading a Sports Illustrated article about the making of Caddyshack.  They revealed a lot about the relationships between the actors..how Chevy Chase and Bill Murray simply didn't like each other etc.  But, one thing that "blew" me away was when it talked about Rodney Dangerfield showing up to do his part and the first thing he did in the directors office was lay out a few lines of blow and snort em' down....like he was having a cup of coffee. 

[Godfather]

[AUChizad]

A couple of years ago, I was reading a Sports Illustrated article about the making of Caddyshack.  They revealed a lot about the relationships between the actors..how Chevy Chase and Bill Murray simply didn't like each other etc.  But, one thing that "blew" me away was when it talked about Rodney Dangerfield showing up to do his part and the first thing he did in the directors office was lay out a few lines of blow and snort em' down....like he was having a cup of coffee.

Not really all that surprising to me at all.

Sherman was a weird dude. Was big into prog rock, which now makes so much more sense knowing this about him.

[Shug Dye]

Not really all that surprising to me at all.

And I'm even a tiny bit jealous.

[AU_Tiger_2000]

Not really all that surprising to me at all.

Sherman was a weird dude. Was big into prog rock, which now makes so much more sense knowing this about him.

I guess that was just Hollywood in the '70's.

I was watching a making of for Animal House and they had Bruce McGill (D-Day) on talking about how his hotel room was party central.  He mad references to having pounds of pot, bowls of cocaine, the piano from the lobby, and basically a bar setup in the corner of his room and partying every night.  At the end he said something like, "I guess I should say something about kids not doing anything like that, but .... it was the '70's and we had a lot of fun."

So I guess, when did it stop being fun?  Rock Hudson and AIDS?  John Belushi OD?  John Bonham alcohol poisoning?  Keith Moon OD?  Because I'm sure you get some people who are famous now who are half in the bag all the time, but now it seems something to point at and deride more than laugh at (Courtney Love, Amy Winehouse, etc.)

[Saniflush]

I guess that was just Hollywood in the '70's.

I was watching a making of for Animal House and they had Bruce McGill (D-Day) on talking about how his hotel room was party central.  He mad references to having pounds of pot, bowls of cocaine, the piano from the lobby, and basically a bar setup in the corner of his room and partying every night.  At the end he said something like, "I guess I should say something about kids not doing anything like that, but .... it was the '70's and we had a lot of fun."

So I guess, when did it stop being fun? Rock Hudson and AIDS?  John Belushi OD?  John Bonham alcohol poisoning?  Keith Moon OD?  Because I'm sure you get some people who are famous now who are half in the bag all the time, but now it seems something to point at and deride more than laugh at (Courtney Love, Amy Winehouse, etc.)

When the fuck did this happen?  I didn't get the memo.

[dallaswareagle]

I guess that was just Hollywood in the '70's.

I was watching a making of for Animal House and they had Bruce McGill (D-Day) on talking about how his hotel room was party central.  He mad references to having pounds of pot, bowls of cocaine, the piano from the lobby, and basically a bar setup in the corner of his room and partying every night.  At the end he said something like, "I guess I should say something about kids not doing anything like that, but .... it was the '70's and we had a lot of fun."

So I guess, when did it stop being fun?  Rock Hudson and AIDS?  John Belushi OD?  John Bonham alcohol poisoning?  Keith Moon OD?  Because I'm sure you get some people who are famous now who are half in the bag all the time, but now it seems something to point at and deride more than laugh at (Courtney Love, Amy Winehouse, etc.)

She’s been clean for about a year now.

[Snaggletiger]

She’s been clean for about a year now.

This...right here^^....it just happened.

[Tarheel]

She’s been clean for about a year now.

Now that's just being ugly right there.