LOS ANGELES, July 12 (UPI) -- Actress Isabel Sanford, best known for playing Louise Jefferson in the hit TV series "The Jeffersons," has died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.
Thecelebritycafe.com said Sanford, who was 86, had been in poor health for several months prior to her admission to the hospital July 4. She died last Friday and her death was announced Monday.
Sanford gained widespread fame with her co-starring role as Louise Jefferson in the popular television series "All In the Family" and then in the also popular spin-off "The Jeffersons."
Her first appearance in a major movie was in 1967's "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner," with Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
In 1981, Sanford became the first black woman to win an Emmy for Best Actress in a Comedy Series for her work on "The Jeffersons," which ran from 1975 to 1985, co-starring Sherman Hemsley.
She is survived by a daughter, two sons, seven grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
