Sherman Hemsley (born February 1, 1938) is an American character actor most famous for his role as George Jefferson on television shows All in the Family and The Jeffersons and as Deacon Ernest Frye on Amen .
Hemsley, along with his TV wife, Isabel Sanford, were very popular as the Jeffersons, but were mostly typecast by the roles and were mostly limited to guest TV appearances and cameo appearances in movies, appearing in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Designing Women, Family Matters, The Wayans Bros., Sister, Sister and The Hughleys.