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Isabel Sanford
1917 - 2004
"I was told many times to forget show business, I had nothing going
for me. But I pursued it, anyway. Voila!"
Isabel Sanford will forever be remembered as Louise "Weezy" Jefferson, from the television show
The
Jeffersons. Before that, she was a Broadway actress for thirty years, and she made her motion picture debut in the film
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? with Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. After
The Jeffersons ended, she did a lot of commercials, mostly with her
Jeffersons co-star, Sherman
Hemsley. Check out the rest of her career here.
In January of 2004, she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of
Fame. In attendance were Marla Gibbs, "Florence" on The
Jeffersons, and the show's creator, Norman Lear. In March, she appeared at the TV Land awards with Sherman Hemsley. It would be her final public appearance.
She had undergone surgery for an artery in her neck in 2003, and on July 4, 2004, entered
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. She
went to that DEluxe apartment in the sky on July 9, of cardiopulmonary arrest, with her daughter at her side. She was
86 years old and looked fantastic, which totally enforces the fact that black
don't crack, unless you are Miss
Jane Pittman.
I had a difficult time tracking down where Isabel lived. According to her death certificate, her address was in Santa Monica, which turned out to be her accountant. Then I found another address which stated Beverly Hills, but it turned out to be a friend. Lastly, thanks to my buds EJ Fleming and Richard Kappler, I found her home, over the 405 Freeway in LA. Gated community. Neighbor is Lisa Marie Presley. I couldn't get anywhere near the place, but it sure wasn't because I didn't try.
Funeral services were private, but there was talk of a public memorial
service. She, is buried in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.
Trivia:
She was the first black woman to win an Emmy for Best Actress, in a comedy series.
She was the only survivor of seven children.
Her husband drowned in 1960.
Her final television appearance was on the show Candid Camera.
Her birth name was Eloise Gwendolyn Sanford.
Some of you in NY might want to check out The Jefferson's Building
Think you know a lot about The Jeffersons?
Mucho thanks the Kevin Hassell for putting
together this story, and Mike
Steen for help obtaining the death certificate. Thanks guys.
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