Emilio Delgado, the actor best known for playing the Sesame Street character Luis, has passed away in New York City. He was 81. Last year he had been diagnosed with Multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer.
The Mexican-American actor was born in Calexico, California, but raised by his grandparents on the other side of the US-Mexican border in Mexicali.
Delgado is known to many as a pioneer in children’s television programming after playing Luis for 40 years. He had remained active in theater, starring in Quixote Nuevo, a version of Don Quixote, before the pandemic struck in early 2020. His extensive stage work included serving as artistic director of the Barrio Theatre Ensemble of East Los Angeles.
Still, he’ll be best remembered for the popular children’s program. Delgado had cited the PBS show’s importance as a cultural touchstone in the way people of color were depicted on TV.
“For the first time on television, they showed Latinos as real human beings,” Delgado told the Houston Chronicle in 2020. “We weren’t dope addicts. We weren’t maids or prostitutes, which were the way we were being shown in television and in film. Here, on Sesame Street, there were different people who spoke different languages and ate interesting foods, and they were all Americans.”
“A beloved member of the Sesame family for over 50 years, his warmth and humor invited children to share a friendship that has echoed through generations,” Sesame Workshop said of Delgado in a statement to CNN. “At the forefront of representation, Emilio proudly laid claim to the ‘record for the longest-running role for a Mexican-American in a TV series.’ We are so grateful he shared his talents with us and with the world.”
Beyond Sesame Street, Delgado appeared in such series as Law & Order, and early in his career in the dramas Lou Grant and Falcon Crest. He also co-starred in the 1975 TV movie I Will Fight No More Forever, a true story about Nez Perce Native American leader Chief Joseph.