Sherman Hemsley Cause of Death

Actor Sherman Hemsley died on July 24 at age 74, forever burying George Jefferson, one of the most indelible characters in television history.

Sherman Hemsley played George Jefferson on the hit CBS sitcoms "All in the Family" and "The Jeffersons," starting out as the nemesis of Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O'Connor.

A postmortum report by the El Paso County, Texas Medical Examiner states that Sherman Hemsley's primary cause of death was a "superior vena cava syndrome," a complication from lung cancer.  It is unknown whether Hemsley he was a smoker. 

Sherman Alexander Hemsley was born in February 1938.  He served in the U.S. Air Force, then worked for the U.S. Postal Service before becoming a Broadway star and eventually being offered the role of George Jefferson by "All in the Family" creator Norman Lear.

A familiar face on TV over the past four decades, Sherman Hemsley has starred on "All in the Family," "The Jeffersons," "Amen," "Dinosaurs" and in the classic comedy movies, Love at First Bite, Mr. Nanny and Sprung.

An Emmy Award-winning television actor, Sherman Hemsley goes down in history for starring in not one, but TWO of television's highest-rated, most-successful, longest-running megahit shows ever.

Not many black Hollywood personalities could take 300 years of African American struggles and boil them down into a comic delivery that made other racial segments of society completely understand The Black Experience in mere minutes.

Sherman Hemsley could.  He was that good.

Nationally popular in the extreme, "The Jeffersons" enjoyed a tremendously successful run for 11 straight years, becoming the longest-running sitcom with a black cast in the history of television.

Hemsley was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in March 2012.

An accomplished music performer, Sherman Hemsley released the solo album Dance in 1992 before collaborating with Jon Anderson of the progressive rock band Yes on the album Festival of Dreams, which has not yet been released.

The late Sherman Hemsley never married nor had any children.  He leaves behind friends, colleagues and millions of fans who mourn the death of one of America's greatest actors, Sherman Hemsley.

Sherman Hemsley 1938-2012