Sherman Hemsley - Personal Life and Death

Personal Life and Death

Hemsley was a shy and intensely private man who was characterized by some as reclusive. He avoided the Hollywood limelight and little of his personal life was public knowledge beyond the facts that he never married and had no children. In 2003, however, Hemsley granted a rare video interview to the Archive of American Television. "It was hard for me. But he was the character. I had to do it."

On July 24, 2012, Hemsley died at his home in El Paso, Texas. He died as a result of a cancerous mass on his lung, according to the El Paso County Texas Medical Examiner. He was 74 years old.

On August 28, 2012, an El Paso, Texas news anchor interviewed the sole beneficiary of Hemsley's will, Flora Enchinton, who said Hemsley's body is frozen in the San Jose Funeral Home in El Paso, Texas, waiting for the court to approve his burial. Enchinton says she had been friends with Hemsley and had even been his manager for more than two decades. During this time she lived with Hemsley and Hemsley's friend Kenny Johnston. Enchinton tells AP Hemsley never mentioned any relatives. "Some people come out of the woodwork — they think Sherman, they think money," Enchinton tells AP. "But the fact is that I did not know Sherman when he was in the limelight. I met them when they came running from Los Angeles with not one penny, when there was nothing but struggle."

A Philadelphia man named Richard Thornton said he is the brother of Hemsley, and is the true heir to his estate. After contesting a June 17, 2012 will, Thornton halted progress on funeral arrangements. As a result, Hemsley's body remains refrigerated and unburied until a local court rules on the validity of his will..

On Friday, November 9, 2012 The legal battle over Sherman Hemsley's body ended when Judge Patricia Chew ruled in favor of Hemsley's business partner, Flora Isela Enchinton.

A Military funeral was planned for Mr. Hemsley. He was interred at Fort Bliss National Cemetery at his hometown of El Paso, Texas.