Trivia: Hemsley is a short, aggressive black comic actor. He came to acting late; after working for the Post Office he moved to New York in the late '60s, hoping to find theater work. Soon he won the choice role of Gitlow in the Broadway musical Purlie (1970), and his performance made a strong, lasting impression on TV producer Norman Lear. When Lear's TV sitcom All in the Family became a hit, Lear created the character of George Jefferson, Archie Bunker's black neighbor; after deciding that his first choice for the role was all wrong, in 1973 Lear tracked Hemsley down in San Francisco, where the latter was appearing in the play Don't Bother Me, I Can't Cope. Hemsley was signed for the role, and played it from 1973-85; from 1975-85 he was the costar of the spinoff sitcom The Jeffersons, a top-rated show for many years, for which Hemsley at one point earned $60,000 per episode. He later starred in Amen (1986-91). In 1981 he reprised his Broadway role in the cable-TV production of Purlie. He debuted onscreen in Love at First Bite (1979), appearing with Isabel Sanford, his TV wife. His screen appearances have been few.

Trivia: Defying her mother's wishes, African-American actress Isabel Sanford secretly worked as a nightclub performer in her teens. Upon winning 3rd prize in an Apollo Theatre amateur contest, Sanford could keep her new career a secret no longer. Married to a house painter who worked only on a seasonal basis, she held down a full-time job as a keypunch operator at the New York City department of Welfare, spending her evenings acting with such groups as Harlem Y and the American Negro Theatre. Seeking out better opportunities, Sanford packed her family into a bus and headed to Hollywood in the early 1960s. Her breakthrough film role was in Stanley Kramer's Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; she played Tillie the cook, who heartily disapproved of the upcoming interracial marriage between Katharine Houghton and Sidney Poitier (the hardest part of this assignment was not mouthing the "controversial" dialogue but preparing dinner in a key scene; Sanford had never learned to cook!) On the strength of this film, Isabel Sanford was hired for several guest spots on The Carol Burnett Show, which led to her most famous characterization: Louise Jefferson, the acerbic but loving wife of "movin' on up" Sherman Hemsley, on the immensely popular sitcom The Jeffersons (1975-82).

Trivia: Was employed by a major airline when she was cast on The Jeffersons; continued working for the airline during her first few seasons on the show. Is also a singer; released an album, It's Never Too Late, in 2006. Reunited with actress Regina King, who played her daughter on the 1980s sitcom 227, in a 2012 episode of Southland.

Trivia: On television, supporting actress Roxie Roker may best be remembered for playing outspoken Helen Willis for ten years on the popular television sitcom The Jeffersons. She and TV husband Franklin Cover comprised the first interracial married couple on network television. But in addition to television, Roker had also found success on stage and in the occasional feature film. Miami-born and Brooklyn-raised, Roker graduated from Howard University with a drama degree and then flew to England to study at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-on-Avon. During the 1960s, Roker supported herself with a secretarial job at NBC's New York office while trying to find acting jobs. Roker launched her drama career off-Broadway in productions such as Jean Genet's The Blacks. Between 1967 and '68, Roker hosted a local community television show, but that wasn't close enough to acting, so she quit to practice her craft full time. With the Negro Ensemble Company she appeared in Ododo and Rosalie Pritchet. In 1974, she earned an Obie and a Tony nomination for The River Niger. In 1975, shortly after moving to Los Angeles, Norman Lear cast Roker in The Jeffersons. In addition to this role, Roker occasionally guest-starred on other series and appeared in television movies. Her feature-film appearances were rare. Roker made her debut in Claudine (1974). In the '90s, Roker resumed her stage career, appearing in a theatrical version of The Jeffersons and then touring opposite Mary Martin and Carol Channing in Legends. Roker's son, Lenny Kravitz is a noted rock musician and record producer.

Trivia: Won a scholarship to attend Interlochen Arts Academy High School in Michigan. Featured in the 1971 Broadway production of The Me Nobody Knows. Auditioned for role of James 'J.J.' Evans Jr. in the CBS series Good Times; lost out to Jimmie Walker. In 1975, replaced Michael Evans as Lionel Jefferson in the CBS comedy series The Jeffersons. Nominated for a Best Actor Olivier Award in 1992 for portrayal of Joe in the London stage production of Carmen Jones. Has sung with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Trivia: Acting career began on stage in Hamlet and Henry IV. Appeared in numerous Broadway productions, including Applause and Born Yesterday. Made history playing the husband in the first interracial married couple featured on a network primetime show (Tom Willis on The Jeffersons). Son, Bradford Cover, is also an actor.

Trivia: Made TV debut in 1974 on the ABC crime-drama The Streets of San Francisco. Landed first regular TV series role in 1975 on the CBS comedy The Jeffersons, playing Jenny Willis Jefferson. Starred in Maya Angelou's play On A Southern Journey in 1983.

Trivia: Though his melodiously accented speech pattern has led many to assume that actor Paul Benedict is British, the actor was actually born in New Mexico. Benedict's oversized jaw and angular features won him several character roles once he decided upon a theatrical career. One evening, a doctor who had seen Benedict on stage warned the actor that his elongated facial structure was due to a rare bone disease called acromegaly, which ultimately distorts the face into grotesqueness and can result in early death (filmdom's most famous victim of acromegaly was horror star Rondo Hatton). Undergoing medical treatment to prevent the spread of the disease, Benedict continued acting, utilizing his odd facial features for comic rather than tragic effect. While appearing in featured roles in such films as The Goodbye Girl (1977), Paul Benedict was cast as next-door neighbor Harley Bentley, an eccentric UN translator, on the long running TV series The Jeffersons. He played Harley steadily from 1975 to 1981, left for two years to pursue other projects (including the Steve Martin comedy The Man With Two Brains [1983]), but returned in 1983 to remain with The Jeffersons until its final episode two years later. He died in 2008 at age 70.

Trivia: African-American stage and film actor Robert Do Qui was first seen by televiewers on a weekly basis as Detective Cliff Sims in Felony Squad (1968-1969). Do Qui has worked extensively with director Robert Altman, most prominently as the sympathetic nightclub manager in Nashville (1975). In the 1980s and 1990s, he became familiar to action fans as Sgt. Reed in the three Robocop flicks. In addition to his many acting credits, Robert Do Qui served several terms as an officer of the Screen Actors Guild. He died at age 74 in 2008.