Garrett Morris on If "The Jeffersons" Star, the Late Sherman Hemsley Was a Closeted Gay Man (Part 8)

all right you know something before I move this on you were on SNL I believe when the young Eddie Murphy CA came he came after me he came after me he came after you yeah okay you never got a chance to work with him on on SNS not at all no not at all okay we talked about car wash yes now you know another classic film within our community but but I I I want to focus not so much on the film itself but the actors that played in it um you know Richard PRI was in the film Bill Duke who you mentioned earlier George Carin Antonio fargus yeah you you and so many of these Legends go back so far what was it like working with these guys did you know that these guys were Legends in the making oh man believe me I was just so great to be in that company uh Tony fogus I fell in love with his portrayal of this character in um um um Great White Hope did you see him in that no I didn't see him in that oh my God he kicked ass I just know him from starski and Hutch oh no no no you should have seen him in the Great White Hope he played like an interlac is that the word to use CU every after every scene they come home and comment on the scenes that was his role and I'd never forget him doing that role plus later on he was in T and Hutch yeah yeah bill and I were friends way back there because we had done um um Imam mu's play slav ship and we were gone to uh Europe to in fact bring that um play to Europe U so and matter of fact being bill and I participated in what can a rebellion of a cast against what the producers were doing in the production of slave cuz in New York the producers were violating a whole lot of rules and so we decided we can take it and when the second act started we all stood up and say hey we and we told the audience why we were pestic and we walked out enough in Europe we had to do the same thing to a producer in Zurich Switzerland and why we do that in Zurich Switzerland because the producer happened to be the brother-in-law of the mayor of Zurich and he put out he put out a 72h hour alarm for our arrest and you got out of zor by plane bus Carriage running any way you could think you had getting out of Zurich okay and I don't use the word in word uh without think M cuz we got out of there man oh man all right yeah Bill Duke and I were still friends of this day matter of fact he we had a lunch together yesterday uh um who else so you still keep in touch with Bill like that that y'all had lunch together just yesterday yeah me and Bill having lunch all the time yeah he was at my 80th birthday than another another one of the great black actors another one of the great actors of our time and I and I don't want to I don't want to put y'all in the Box yeah like like let let me just give the the flowers you deserve uh another one of of the great actors of all time Bill Duke wow yeah how about that talking about Glenn have you seen him in the uh bot Rustin story no I forgotten the name of it but uh I'll I'll take you the name uh if I can um when I get when I get but I saw it the other night at the Director's Guild great story had the new black actor I've never seen before playing him and they all real about by because you know he was gay yes yes he was gay and black and leftist which is the worst thing you can do in the 40s and 50s let's face it but I didn't know until I saw the movie that Not only was a brilliant which I always thought but he was the the March on Washington was his idea oh I didn't know that yeah and you were the main one who got it together oh I did not know that yeah yeah yeah huh okay um you know where do I want to go you know I I let me pit stop here for a second because Vlad did Vlad just interviewed Todd Bridges on this same platform and you had you had a regular role on Different Strokes or you had a reoccurring character on different yeah you what was your thoughts well it wasn't regular Ro I think I did a few some episodes you did a few episodes yes yeah what you said what was Todd's story what what no what was your thoughts me because those Different Strokes kids they they were they were celebrated uh Gary Coleman was one of the biggest young yeah Stars period not just a black star now you said what was my what what was your thoughts on on meeting those kids uh G Gary Coleman oh Tod Brig G colan fan I was I was a g colan fan the late there in PL I was a fan of the show and I was happy to be on him yeah I was very excited you know and at that time Gary was at the height of his thing you know yeah I mean he he this guy was was a level I mean this was a child actor but to see the way all of their lives turned out Gary Gary Coleman made somewhere upwards of$ 18820 million on that show and he ended up broke he was working as a security guard in a mall before his passing told I was told I'm sure you were told that his parents were basically responsible for that yes yes that that was the the the word that went out into the world um you know but it's so sad to see how his story turned out Dana PL same thing this was a woman who you know uh I I I I remember hearing the 911 call where a convenience store worker said hey I was just robbed by the girl on Different Strokes why and and she ends up D of Overdose right you know Todd Bridges himself you know he has battled and struggled with drugs Dana Plato who played Kimberly Drummond on the show had a hard time yeah after losing um you know after losing a role on the show in 1991 she went into a video store with a pelic gun and robbed him the the the guy behind the counter called 911 and said I've just been robbed by the girl who played Kimberly on Different Strokes I mean literally he was like I know who you are she's not wearing a mask yeah were you in contact with her up to this point uh uh I went and testify for her in court and that's why I ended up relapsing I was two years sober I was two years sober um I went in there and man that prosecutor beat me up so bad I went home and got high huh he made me feel so low about myself because that was his job was to discredit me you know understanding he did everything he could and threw everything at me and brought everything up that I went through emotionally and mentally and I end up relapsing after that end up going back out because of that reason I wasn't I I found out that I wasn't what I realized was I should have stayed away from it I wasn't ready to help anybody I couldn't help myself I was hanging on barely hanging on myself you know and that was the dumbest thing I ever did all right cuz that next year in ' 92 you're 27 years old you got arrested for suspicion 26 sorry you were arrested on suspicion of transporting drugs for sale and possession of a loaded firearm yep back then like I said I was a I was a a kid if you think about this my father was also abusive growing up to me and my mom so if you think about this you're you're you can't find anybody safe there's no one safe I didn't have my father safe me and my mom were weren't we were safe when we weren't with my dad when my dad was there we didn't feel safe when I was out on my own couldn't feel safe because I was getting harassed by the police when I was at the studio they couldn't feel safe there either I couldn't I had nowhere to feel safe so um I carried guns you know I thought that would keep me safe you know and like we all learned it's just it's something that makes makes you unsafe you know and then like I said I had relapsed and I had done drugs again you know and cuz I had no real program I had no real program wow could you see any of that within those kids back in them days no I didn't I didn't I didn't see that at all and I thought cuz if you see Todd at an earlier earlier time you would expected him to be cuz he was a number one child actor number one yeah yeah H um you also was another one of all of our favorite shows um sitcom the Jefferson yes oh I was delighted to work with uh Sherman and Isabelle man and Roxy Roker and uh call um um H Mary Gibbs oh that was a great time man and I was directed by a great TV director who had been around negro on summer with me uh NR Sumer company being ignored his name is a Scott do you know what that is no uhuh I don't a Scott is one of the greatest television directors today you should check him out on on your computer when you get home he directed this thing called Black Lightning okay yeah um but he directed he directed um and for those um for color girls on Broadway yep yep that was his directing of it he was the one who directed that very nice he directed I think was moving with Sith Le Tyson and Richard I think was moving busting loose busting loose bu so he's the he's one of my great friends but um um oh sh yeah but when I first did the um Jefferson the first first show I did I directed it and I was delighted to be working with Sherman and with Isabelle and with Mara and Roxy it was a great great time two years lot of people don't know that I had two years at a regular on that show yeah yeah I I remember it well I used to watch that show all the time yeah you you you know something you mentioned being black and being gay and being leftist was not a good combo oh my God you there were longstanding rumors that Sherman you know he he was in the closet for the for the better part of his life yes he was is this something that was commonly known amongst you guys or or did you just find out in the aftermath I knew about it I knew about it a long time before it came out yes really yeah I did that guy was such a comedic genius himself sure was he he really was and he carried that show he and went on to do amen right such a funny guy you know it's just unfortunate that during those times it it just wasn't socially acceptable right to to to be gay to come out and live your Truth uh you you would be cast from Hollywood and especially if you was black in a certain way it still this best to keep that sort of yeah on download yeah even now cuz if you're a white actor you can let it out but if you're black let's face it that double standard is going to come in correct yeah

Channel: djvlad

Views: 412,401

Keywords:

Id: y7RnT5Sk4Gs

Length: 12min 38sec (758 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 20 2023