Work with Norman Lear
While Hemsley was on Broadway with Purlie, Norman Lear called him in 1971 to play the recurring role of George Jefferson in his new sitcom, All in the Family. Hemsley was reluctant to leave his theatre role; Lear told him he would hold the role open for him (another actor, Mel Stewart, played his brother during this time). Hemsley joined the cast two years later. The characters of Hemsley and co-star Isabel Sanford were occasional supporting roles in All in the Family, then were given their own spin-off, The Jeffersons, in 1975. The Jeffersons proved to be one of Lear's most successful series, enjoying a run of eleven seasons through 1985.
Hemsley continued to work steadily after the show's cancellation, largely typecast in George Jefferson-like roles. Hemsley later joined the cast of NBC's Amen in 1986 as Deacon Ernest Frye, a church deacon. The sitcom enjoyed a run of five seasons, ending in 1991. Hemsley then was a voice actor in the ABC live-action puppet series Dinosaurs, where he played Bradley P. Richfield, the boss of the main character, Earl. The series ran four seasons, ending in 1994. In 1995, Hemsley made four appearances in the sitcom Sister, Sister as Tia and Tamera Mowry's grandfather. In 1996, he had the lead role in the TV comedy series Goode Behavior, which lasted for one season.
Hemsley then cut back on his acting career, although Isabel Sanford and he occasionally appeared together in the mid to late 1990s and in the early 2000s, reprising their popular roles in guest appearances on such television series as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; in commercials for The Gap, Old Navy, and Denny's; and at dry cleaning conventions. He also starred with Sanford in a touring company of The Real Live Jeffersons stage show in the 1990s. Sanford and he made a cameo appearance in the film Sprung (1997). They continued to work together on occasion until Sanford's health declined prior to her death in 2004. In 2001, Hemsley appeared as a contestant on the "Celebrity Classic TV Edition" special of ABC's primetime quiz show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire and won $125,000 for his charity. Hemsley also made a voice appearance as himself in the Seth MacFarlane animated comedy Family Guy in 2005. He appeared in the film American Pie Presents: The Book of Love (2009). In 2011, he reprised his role as George Jefferson for the final time, alongside Marla Gibbs as Florence Johnston, on Tyler Perry's House of Payne. Hemsley was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2012.
