He was in the first play I ever saw, a musical called Purlie, this a few years before he became famous on tv as George Jefferson -- in that play he was alongside Cleavon Little who later played the sheriff in Blazing Saddles (he passed in 1992 at just 54 -- incidentally, that part was originally supposed to go to Richard Pryor but he was rejected by the studio, he was a co-writer of the script). I was just a kid when I saw it, but remember Helmsley was the one who got all the laughs.