Sherman Hemsley, who starred in the iconic 1970s sitcom The Jeffersons, was found dead in his El Paso, TX home today, according to reports. He was 74. Hemsley was personally picked by All In The Family creator Norman Lear to play George Jefferson alongside Louise Jefferson (Isabel Sanford) as the newly arrived neighbors of Archie and Edith Bunker. Lear eventually spun off the characters in 1975 and created The Jeffersons, about a successful black family who lived in Manhattan. The show ran 10 years. Hemsley, who also starred on Broadway in the 1970s musical comedy Purlie, later starred on the sitcom Amen playing a church deacon.