Actors

Isabel Sanford

The first black woman to win a Best Actress comedy Emmy, Isabel Sanford started performing as a teen at the Apollo Theatre's amateur night. After gigs as a cleaning woman and a keypunch operator for the NYC welfare department, she joined the American Negro Theatre. She eventually segued into television with guest roles on Bewitched, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Love, American Style and The Mod Squad, as well as a semi-regular spot on The Carol Burnett Show.

She made such a memorable impression on Broadway in "Amen Corner" that director Stanley Kramer cast her as the razor-sharp maid Tillie Binks in the 1967 Tracy-Hepburn-Poitier classic Guess Who's Coming to Dinner. Norman Lear also took notice and cast her as Louise Jefferson, Edith Bunker's friend and neighbor, on All in the Family in 1971. In addition to her Emmy for playing Louise, she also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sanford appeared in her signature role in other shows, including Roseanne and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, the movie Jane Austen's Mafia! as well as "The Real Live Jeffersons." She passed away on July 9, 2004 of heart disease.