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00:00It's been over 30 years since Will Smith's life got flip-turned upside down in the 90s sitcom
00:05The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and we've had to say goodbye to several Fresh Prince actors in that
00:10time. She only appeared in six episodes of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, but Virginia Capers was
00:16involved in some of the show's most emotional moments. Capers died from complications due to
00:21pneumonia at age 78. She played Hattie Banks, the widowed mother of patriarch Philip Banks.
00:26"'But little Zeke just stood his ground.' "'Uncle Phil did that?' "'Mm-hmm. Look ahead, I beat you again.'"
00:35She often has her hilarious moments, though Granny rarely came and went without sharing some wisdom,
00:40and it's not just Will that learned to heed her lessons.
00:43Phil, or Zeke as his mother calls him, is furious when Will leaks information about his childhood
00:49on a farm to the press, and when Hattie overhears him complaining, she reminds her son to respect his
00:54roots. "'And I'm having a few words with you. What have you got to be ashamed of? We always put
01:01food on the table and clothes on your back.'"
01:04Capers' TV career began in the early 1960s, when she appeared as Ada the Saloon Gal in the
01:10western series Have Gun, Will Travel. She was seen in the likes of St. Elsewhere, Alfred Hitchcock Presents,
01:16Downtown, and Murder, She Wrote, before she made her debut as Hattie Banks, and she appeared in a
01:21number of films during that period, too. She played the part of school nurse Florence Sparrow in the
01:26classic 80s comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and longtime Marvel fans will recognize her as Cora
01:32May, the secretary from Howard the Duck. Capers was also a decorated stage actor.
01:37She won a Tony Award for her performance in 1974's Raisin.
01:42Galen George, who played the title character in classic Fresh Prince episode Boxing Helena,
01:47died of cancer in 2020 at age 55. Her agent, Sheila Leggett, said,
01:52"'She quietly and privately fought a good fight. Galen was a beautiful soul who loved life,
01:57art, dance, and was a phenomenal woman who I called not only a client but a good friend.'"
02:03George appeared on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in 1996, halfway through the final season.
02:08According to Will Smith's memoir, the show was in a downward spiral at this stage,
02:12though many fans still remember boxing Helena fondly, largely because of George's spirited
02:18performance. She plays the boxing instructor at the health club that the Banks family joins.
02:23"'Just admit that you're afraid, and I'll leave you alone.'"
02:25"'Hey, girl, let me tell you something. Ain't nobody afraid of you.'"
02:30George was already an established actor by the time she appeared on Fresh Prince,
02:34having played Angie in RoboCop 2 and Margarita in Point Break.
02:39Post-Helena, she played Kendra on Stargate SG-1 and appeared as a nurse on J.J. Abrams' Lost.
02:46Former Glee star Naya Rivera, who played Cindy in the Fresh Prince Season 3 episode Bundle of Joy,
02:52died after going for a swim in California's Lake Piru. The actor's four-year-old son survived
02:58and was found alone on a boat in the middle of the lake on July 8, 2020. Five days later,
03:03Rivera's body was recovered by her search team. The medical examiner explained,
03:08the autopsy findings are consistent with a drowning. No traumatic injuries or disease
03:13processes were identified at autopsy. She was just 33 years old. Years before she debuted on Glee,
03:19Rivera appeared as an imaginary version of the Banks' youngest child. Aunt Viv is heavily pregnant
03:24in Bundle of Joy, and each family member imagines what life will be like with another sibling.
03:30Hillary, played by Karen Parsons, pictures a world in which a little sister named Cindy,
03:35played by Rivera, acts as her personal assistant.
03:38Cindy!
03:42Aren't you forgetting something, baby sister?
03:44You're prettier than I'll ever be.
03:46In her final role, Rivera voiced DC's Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman, in the critically acclaimed
03:53two-part animated film Batman The Long Halloween. Best known for playing the iconic George Jefferson on
04:00the classic sitcom The Jeffersons, Sherman Hemsley died from a lung mass in 2012 at 74,
04:06according to his post-mortem report. Lenny Kravitz, whose mother Roxy Roper was Helen
04:11Willis on The Jeffersons, led the tributes on Twitter saying,
04:15Rest in peace, Sherman Hemsley. You are legendary. Your contribution changed the fabric of American
04:20culture. Hemsley made his first appearance as ambitious entrepreneur George Jefferson in a 1973
04:26episode of All in the Family, and he would go on to play him in all 253 episodes of The Jeffersons.
04:33The spinoff ran for a decade between 1975 and 1985. He reprised the role on a few occasions,
04:40including in the two-part ER pilot and on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.
04:44Will agrees to attend couples counseling with his girlfriend in Season 5's Will Is From Mars,
04:49and George is at the same session with his wife Louise, Isabelle Sanford. Both later appear in
04:54I'd Done Part 2, the final Fresh Prince episode. Before he appeared as Jefferson,
04:59Hemsley played another character, Judge Carl Robertson, the bitter rival of Uncle Phil.
05:05Criminals support Philip Banks. Should you throw the bums in jail,
05:11say Philip Banks, no thanks, on election day.
05:14Hemsley went on to play Jimmy Campbell in another popular sitcom, Sister Sister. Jack A. Harry,
05:20who starred as Lisa Landry on the ABC show, called Hemsley a, quote,
05:24longtime friend and comedic legend, in a tribute tweet.
05:27Isabelle Sanford played one-half of America's favorite up-and-coming married couple on The
05:32Jeffersons, becoming the first black woman to win the Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series
05:37in the Process. Like her on-screen husband, she's no longer with us. Sanford died of natural causes in
05:432004, aged 86. Sidney Poitier, Sanford's co-star in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? told the Los Angeles
05:50Times,
05:51The impact of Isabelle Sanford's career on American theater, television, and film will be a lasting
05:57one. Having had the opportunity to work with her remains a treasured moment in my career.
06:02Like Hemsley did with George, Sanford debuted as Louise Jefferson on All in the Family before the
06:07pair got their own show. In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Season 5, she scolds George for not being
06:13able to name one nice thing about her during couples therapy.
06:17The man said to name three things you like about me.
06:20Fine. Your mother died, your mother's dead, your mother ain't living no more.
06:25They clearly got through their issues, however, because it's George and Louise Jefferson who turn
06:30up to buy the bank's Bel-Air mansion in the last Fresh Prince episode. A character actor who worked in
06:35Hollywood for over 30 years, Macon's Sonny McCalman died in 2005 following a lengthy illness at age 72.
06:43McCalman notched over 100 screen credits during his three decades in the business,
06:48appearing in dozens of big TV shows along the way. He played Daryl on the beloved sitcom Cheers,
06:54Poston on the historical drama Roots, and Gorman on long-running soap opera Dallas, to name a few.
07:00And just like so many on this list, he was even on The Jeffersons. He rarely stuck around on a
07:05show for more than one episode, but McCalman actually popped up twice on The Fresh Prince
07:09of Bel-Air, playing the character of Dr. Baylor in episodes 18 and 19 of season 2.
07:15Described as a Hollywood legend when she died in 2016 at 99 years old,
07:19Hungarian-American actor and socialite Zsa Zsa Gabor had a truly remarkable life and career.
07:25Her obituary reads,
07:27While Gabor had multiple acting credits, her greatest performance was playing herself.
07:31She was famous for her accented English, eccentric name, off-screen antics, including a 1989 incident
07:37in which she slapped a Beverly Hills cop and one-liners about her jewels, nine marriages,
07:42and ex-husbands. She was a larger-than-life personality in her prime, and she brought all
07:47of that presence to the role of Sonia L'Amour in 1991's Ho Ho Silver, the 10th episode of The Fresh
07:53Prince of Bel-Air season 2. The former Miss Hungry is perfectly at home in the skin of Sonia L'Amour,
07:59who accepts an invite to a dinner party at the Banks house. Gabor appeared in The Naked Gun Two
08:04and a Half, The Smell of Fear that same year, and she followed that up with roles in The Naked Truth
08:10and The Beverly Hillbillies, a movie adaptation of the sitcom. She went on to appear in the Brady
08:15Bunch movie A Very Brady Sequel, but would retire following a car accident in 2002. Gabor relied on
08:21a wheelchair after the accident, and according to Variety, a massive stroke further hobbled her in 2005.
08:28Louisiana-born actor John Wesley, who Fresh Prince fans will remember as Dr. Hoover in 1991's
08:34The Mother of All Battles, died of complications due to cancer in 2019 at 72 years old.
08:41His rep told The Hollywood Reporter,
08:43John Wesley was a gift to the world, for his kindness and grace are immortalized in his works
08:48of theater, TV, and film. I am heartbroken to have lost a dear friend today.
08:52Wesley was popularly known for playing the doctor that Uncle Phil punched on The Fresh
08:56Prince of Bel-Air.
08:58I think you must have her confused with your mama.
09:04That's it, Uncle Phil! You're grounded!
09:07He became a regular on TV in the years that followed, with appearances on the likes of Baywatch,
09:12Cold Case, Frasier, and NCIS, where he played one of his final roles. Notable film credits include
09:19Stop or My Mom Will Shoot, Hang Em High, and The Little Rascals.
09:23When the cast of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air reunited on the show's 30th anniversary,
09:28a huge presence was missing — James Avery, who died due to complications from open-heart surgery
09:33in 2013. Smith revealed that he desperately wanted to nail their most famous scene together,
09:39the one in which he breaks down after flying into a rage about his absent father. Smith recalled,
09:45I fall into his arms at the end of the scene. He's holding me and he's holding me,
09:50he whispered into my ear. Now that's acting. It's like people don't even know when they're shaping you
09:55and forming you and crafting you. He knew. Avery was prolific outside of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,
10:02clocking 180 on-screen credits over the course of his long and varied career. One of his earliest TV
10:08roles was in a 1983 episode of The Jeffersons, and he went on to land roles in Hill Street Blues,
10:14Cagney & Lacey, The Dukes of Hazzard, and The A-Team within the space of a few years.
10:20It was during this time that he began working regularly as a voice actor, too.
10:24Avery did everything, from kids' TV in The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries, to violent anime in Fist of the
10:30North Star, to video games in Biker Mice from Mars. Check out one of our newest videos right here! Plus,
10:37even more Nicki Swift videos about your favorite 90s sitcom stars are coming soon.
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