--- title: Why Sherman Hemsley's George Jefferson Was Pitch Perfect description: Sherman Hemsley died on Tuesday at 74, but his work as George Jefferson, the star of the sitcom The Jeffersons, will live forever. The show... canonical: https://time.com/archive/7132970/why-sherman-hemsleys-george-jefferson-was-pitch-perfect/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2012-07-25T14:45:14.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-22T07:32:16.589Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Why Sherman Hemsley's George Jefferson Was Pitch Perfect og:description: Sherman Hemsley died on Tuesday at 74, but his work as George Jefferson, the star of the sitcom The Jeffersons, will live forever. The show... og:url: https://time.com/archive/7132970/why-sherman-hemsleys-george-jefferson-was-pitch-perfect/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b2854f25b2b8499/698a91add075333c49e76b5f/george-jefferson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: George Jefferson og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why Sherman Hemsley's George Jefferson Was Pitch Perfect twitter:description: Sherman Hemsley died on Tuesday at 74, but his work as George Jefferson, the star of the sitcom The Jeffersons, will live forever. The show... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1b2854f25b2b8499/698a91add075333c49e76b5f/george-jefferson.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) # Why Sherman Hemsley's George Jefferson Was Pitch Perfect > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-inside-2026q3/newsletters?i=cdaf0323-9338-42ff-a083-69fba4d7569b&cr=time-nl-inside-2026q3-v1) by [Touré](https://time.com/author/toure/) Jul 25, 2012 2:45 PM UTC  Courtesy Everett Collection by [Touré](https://time.com/author/toure/) Jul 25, 2012 2:45 PM UTC Sherman Hemsley died on Tuesday at 74, but his work as George Jefferson, the star of the sitcom _The Jeffersons_, will live forever. The show ran from 1975 to 1985 and remains the longest-running network sitcom with a predominantly black cast in TV history. In its first year it was Nielsen’s fourth-best rated show on TV. But more importantly, George was a seminal character, representative of upwardly mobile [blacks](http://topics.time.com/blacks/) in the midst of the affirmative action-powered 1970s. He symbolized the post-Civil Rights Movement era nouveau riche black man benefitting from the economic tides, living in a deluxe penthouse apartment on the swanky upper east side of Manhattan with a live-in maid. Jefferson was a millionaire who owned seven dry cleaners — he got his start after his car was rear-ended by a city bus and his civil suit settlement allowed him to open one store, indicative of a world where the system could work for blacks. His social power was derived from his professional success, but we rarely saw George at work — the show took place almost exclusively in his home, as if showing us the king in his castle. (**MORE:** [Sherman Hemsley, _The Jefferson_‘s Star, Dies at 74](http://entertainment.time.com/2012/07/24/sherman-hemsley-jeffersons-star-dies-at-age-74/)) Hemsley played George as brash, arrogant, combative, swaggering, stubborn and refusing to suffer fools. I loved him for that. I think many did. He was one of the most abrasive and difficult-to-like men on TV, but he was adored precisely because he was unapologetic and defiant. His economic success gave him the ability to not have to ask anyone for anything, to not have to care, to not have to be humble, to never have to scrape. At that point in history it was liberating to live vicariously through a black man who wasn’t beholden to anyone, who could tell white people exactly what he thought of them, who might slam a door in their face when he was done with them. (**MORE**: [“Breaking Bad” and the Downfall of the White ‘Anyman’](http://ideas.time.com/2012/07/20/breaking-bad-and-the-downfall-of-the-white-anyman/)) Jefferson was conceived by legendary TV producer Norman Lear as a black version of Archie Bunker, the notoriously racist and sexist star of _All In the Family_, but while Bunker was a dinosaur — a holdover from the past — Jefferson was of his moment; of a time when blacks derived social power from financial gains. Where James Evans of _Good Times_ was humbled by his work life and just barely keeping his head above water, making it any way that he could, Jefferson was a shining member of the black upper-middle class who stuck out his chest and peacocked around his pretty high-rise: one of those who’d finally gotten a piece of the pie. (The show’s opening theme song “Movin On Up” is arguably the best in TV history, using upbeat gospel tropes to sing of the family’s literal and figurative ascension.) (**MORE**: [Coming Out In Hip-Hop: Frank Ocean’s Powerful Moment](http://ideas.time.com/2012/07/05/anderson-cooper-and-frank-ocean-a-tale-of-two-comings-out/)) By the time [Bill Cosby](http://topics.time.com/bill-cosby/)‘s Dr. Huxtable came along in the buppiefied 80s, black professional success was more common, so it felt right for him to be cool about it. But Jefferson’s persona came from an earlier era and proclaimed that he took no mess from whitey. We not only forgave him for being the proudest, loudest rooster on the farm, we wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Hemsley read the Zeitgeist and shaped Jefferson to give voice to the feelings of an ascendent generation at a critical juncture in history, and he made us proud. **MORE:** [The New Black Irony ](http://ideas.time.com/2012/03/01/the-new-black-irony/) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7132970/why-sherman-hemsleys-george-jefferson-was-pitch-perfect/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/7132970/why-sherman-hemsleys-george-jefferson-was-pitch-perfect/"},"headline":"Why Sherman Hemsley's George Jefferson Was Pitch Perfect","datePublished":"2012-07-25T14:45:14.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-22T07:32:16.589Z","description":"Sherman Hemsley died on Tuesday at 74, but his work as George Jefferson, the star of the sitcom The Jeffersons, will live forever. 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