Actor Emilio Delgado, who starred on Sesame Street for more than four decades, has died at the age of 81.
Delgado was a 45-year presence in the children’s lives, playing repair shop owner Luis on the long-running series.
His wife Carol Delgado confirmed he died at their home in New York from multiple myeloma, a blood cancer he had been battling since 2020.
In a statement, the producers said he was a “beloved member of the Sesame family.”
Delgado, a Mexican, joined the show at a time when there were few ordinary Latino characters on television.
His character Luis, first appearing in 1971, was praised for eschewing the Latin American stereotypes then common on television.
“There really wasn’t any portrayal of real people,” Delgado recalled in a 2021 interview on the YouTube series Famous Cast Words. “Most of the roles I went out for were either bandits or gang members.”
Shopkeeper Luis was an exception, and Delgado’s role saw him alongside a motley crew of children and the famous puppets Elmo, Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.
Delgado was cast in the show’s third season without having to audition. The actor recalled that producer Jon Stone “didn’t want actors… he wanted real people.”
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The actor took a year-long hiatus from the show in the mid-1980s, but returned to continue playing the viewer-favorite Luis.
In a highly publicized 1988 episode, his character married fellow actress Maria, played by Sonia Manzano.
The plot marked Sesame Street’s first attempt at teaching romantic love to children, in which the Fix-it store employees fall in love with each other after caring for a sick kitten.
They first realized they might be in love when Big Bird spotted them holding hands and asked, “Why would adults hold hands to cross the street?”
“We wanted to show a couple who are nice to each other and have fun together,” Ms. Manzano, who also promoted the show, told the New York Times in 1988.
Delgado’s “warmth and humor invited children to share a friendship that reverberates through generations,” Sesame Workshop said in its statement.
“At the pinnacle of representation, Emilio proudly laid claim to the record for the longest-running role by a Mexican in a television series. We are so grateful that he shared his talent with us and the world.”
Delgado’s other TV appearances included Quincy ME, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and House of Cards.
He left Sesame Street in 2016 when his contract was not renewed during a show overhaul. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in late 2020.
He was honored by former New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, who declared October 15, 2019 as Emilio Delgado Day.
“At a time when you often saw diversity on TV with stereotypes, not the good stereotypes,” he said.
“Emilio was one of those people who broke with form and set a positive example for everyone, but especially for children who couldn’t see or hear people who looked like them and spoke like them.”
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