One addition to my post on the death of Mike Evans: here's an excerpt from the episode I was talking about, where Lionel Jefferson (Evans) finally tells Archie Bunker, without any irony or sarcasm, what he thinks of him -- that he considers Archie a friend but won't put up with his bigotry any more.
The scene is also a reminder that for the first three seasons, Lionel's father George never appeared on the show; instead his brother Henry (Mel Stewart) filled in for him in arguments with Archie. According to legend -- or the Wikipedia entry, which in today's culture is equivalent to a legend -- this was because Norman Lear didn't want anyone except Sherman Hemsley to play George, and was willing to wait until Hemsley was available to introduce George as a character.
Hmmm ... According to John Rich's book, which I think you read because you referenced it in the other post, the plan was for George to remain a mysterious figure (a la Maris in Frasier.) But when the actor who played Henry Jefferson left the show, they decided to include George. According to Rich, Sherman Helmsley was a last minute replacement from a small theater touring company when Lear's first choice (a distinguished actor) didn't work out.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I came across that after I wrote this post and didn't get around to changing it. Damn Wikipedia.
ReplyDeleteThat is on IMDB, too, for some reason. To be honest, the wikipedia explanation makes more sense -- "All in the Family" didn't do a lot of gimmicky stuff like have a characters that you never saw. But John Rich would know; he was there.
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