Weezy's Movin' On Up

This just in, according to the AP:

"Actress Isabelle Sanford, best known as 'Weezie,' Louise Jefferson on the television sitcom 'The Jeffersons,' died of natural causes, her publicist said Monday. She was 86.

"Sanford died Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she had been hospitalized since July 4, said Brad Lemack. Her daughter, Pamela Ruff, was at her side, he said.

"Her health had waned after undergoing preventive surgery on a neck artery 10 months ago, Lemack said. He did not give a cause of death.

After working as the maid Louise on All in The Family, her fortunes changed, mirroring the upward mobility of African-Americans, so she moved to a deeluxe apartment in the sky, in The Jeffersons. The AP report continues:

"In 1981, Sanford became the first black woman to receive an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on 'The Jeffersons.'"

Isabelle Sanford, along with Sherman Helmsley, played perhaps the first rich, strong role models to African-Americans in the wake of the civil rights struggle, and she will be sorely missed, particularly by my generation.

Isabelle Sanford, RIP