Yet Another Little Piece of Emmy History

This is the fifth in our series of Emmy moments and histories leading up to the big event on September 18.

Isabel Sanford first appeared as her popular Louise Jefferson character in a 1971 episode of All in the Family where Archie Bunker mistook her for a maid even though she was actually moving into the house next door. The Jeffersons were spun off into their own series in 1975 but it wasn’t until 1981, for the show’s seventh season, that Sanford would win her only Emmy.

Sanford won as Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for the episode “Where the Doorknobs Shone Like Diamonds”, in which Louise visits her childhood home after discovering that it was going to be torn down. She competed against Eileen Brennan for an episode of Taxi titled “Thy Boss’s Wife”, Cathryn Damon for Soap (the previous year’s winner), Katherine Helmond for Soap and Lynn Redgrave for House Calls.

Sanford wasn’t on hand right away to accept the award as she was backstage eating a piece of cheese and didn’t expect to hear her name called. Still, she took her time to finish eating it before coming out on stage.

It was a historic win. At 64, Sanford was the eldest recipient of a lead acting Emmy for a regular series role — a record that would stand until Beatrice Arthur won in 1988 at the age of 66 for The Golden Girls.

Sanford was also the first black winner in this category. To this day, she is the ONLY — a fact that she didn’t seem to even know when it was brought to her attention during an interview in 2002.

Sanford was only the second black nominee in this category, having been preceded by Diahann Carroll in 1969 for Julia. Phylicia Rashad was the third and most recent nominee, even though her last nomination for The Cosby Show occurred in 1986. Sanford is also the most nominated black actress in this, or any other category for regular series.

Interestingly, Sanford and Rashad competed against each other in 1985 (for the final season of The Jeffersons and the first season of The Cosby Show, respectively). It was the only time two black actresses competed against each other. Both lost to Jane Curtin for Kate & Allie.

Emmy didn’t shine as brightly on The Jeffersons as it had on its parent series All in the Family, which won 21 awards over its 1971-1979 run — including four as Outstanding Comedy Series (1971, 1972, 1973 and 1978). Over its 1975-1985 run The Jeffersons was only NOMINATED for 14 awards — seven for Sanford, five for Marla Gibbs as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series (1981-1985), one for Sherman Hemsley as Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series (1984) and one for Outstanding Video Tape Editing for a Series (1983).

Besides Sanford’s, the Editing award was the series’ only other win.

Sanford died in 2004 at the age of 86. I live down the street from her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (on the south side of Hollywood Boulevard just east of La Brea Avenue between two Bank of America ATMs and an Army recruiting center). Every time I walk by it I say, “Good morning, Miss Izzy” as if I had known her personally.

The 63rd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will air on FOX at 8pm EST/5pm PST hosted by Jane Lynch.


People also view

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *