Will dispute prevents burial of Sherman Hemsley

HOLLYWOOD, CA - MARCH 7: Actor Sherman Hemsley attends the 2nd Annual TV Land Awards held on March 7, 2004 at The Hollywood Palladium, in Hollywood, California.

/ Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

(AP) EL PASO, Texas - The embalmed body of actor Sherman Hemsley, who became famous for his role as television's George Jefferson, will be kept in refrigeration at an El Paso funeral home until a local court rules on the validity of his will.

Pictures: Sherman Hemsley - 1938-2012

In the will Hemsley signed six weeks before dying of lung cancer July 24 he named Flora Enchinton, 56, whom he called a "beloved partner," as sole beneficiary of his estate, which is estimated in court documents to be more than $50,000.

The will is being contested by Richard Thornton, of Philadelphia, who claims to be Hemsley's brother and says the will might not have been made by the actor.

Enchinton told The Associated Press on Wednesday that she had been friends with Hemsley and had been his manager for more than 20 years. Over the time she, Hemsley and Hemsley's friend Kenny Johnston, 76, lived together, she said he never mentioned any relatives.

"Some people come out of the woodwork — they think Sherman, they think money," Enchinton said. "But the fact it that I did not know Sherman when he was in the limelight. I met them when they (Hemsley and Johnston) came running from Los Angeles with not one penny, when there was nothing but struggle."

Mark Davis, listed in court documents as Thornton's lawyer in El Paso, did not immediately respond to messages left at his office.

There is no date set for the case to be heard, court officials said. Enchinton said she hopes it will all be cleared in court.

Sherman Hemsley, "The Jeffersons" star, dies at 74

The Philadelphia-born Hemsley played Jefferson in the CBS sitcom "All in the Family," then starred in the spinoff "The Jeffersons" from 1975 to 1985. It was one of TV's longest-running and most successful sitcoms, particularly noteworthy for its predominantly black cast.

Hemsley made George Jefferson — the bigoted, blustering Harlem businessman — one of TV's most memorable characters and a symbol for urban upward mobility.

21 Photos

Sherman Hemsley: 1938-2012

[john92021]

Maybe they need him on ice in case he needs to go to court. RIP. Even his death is a sitcom.

[guest173]

Both of them, the woman and the brother, raise suspicion to me.

[jollychap123]

This hoopla can't just be over $50 K. The lawyers will eat that up in no time.

[lillyhorton]

not to mention the funeral home. Maybe his brother would like to pick up the other expenses accrued by Sherman while he suffered from cancer.

[knucklecheese]

Those soulless jackals will charge that for a phone call!

[jjoe57]

As a Texas attorney with some probate experience I am confused. I've never encountered a case where burial is held up until the will is probated. The Texas Probate Code provides the legal basis for probate as being "at the time of death", not the burial. I can only conjecture that the will has some provision in it that is preventing poor Hemsley's burial.

[nohater]

all those years as an actor and his estate is just more than 50k? surely that is an error in reporting. wonder what his earnings were over the years from the archie bunker sitcom to the end.

[myopinionpal]

Sherman only had $50.000 what happen to the money?

[lillyhorton]

I think people have to keep up a certain image in Hollywood that he couldn't sustain. I don't think sitcoms bring in as much money as movies and I don't think he got lead actor in any movie.