abcnews.go.com
11.03.2022 / 04:29
Emilio Delgado, Luis on 'Sesame Street' for 45 years, dies
Emilio Delgado, the actor and singer who for 45 years was a warm and familiar presence in children's lives and a rare Latino face on American television as fix-it shop owner Luis on “Sesame Street,” died Thursday.His wife, Carol Delgado, told The Associated Press that Emilio Delgado died from the blood cancer multiple myeloma at their home in New York. He was 81.As Luis, Delgado, a Mexican American, got to play an ordinary, non-stereotypical Latino character at a time when such depictions were few and far between on TV, for adults or children.“There really wasn’t any representation of actual people,” Delgado said in a 2021 interview on the YouTube series “Famous Cast Words.” "Most of the roles that I went out for were either for bandits or gang members."That changed with “Sesame Street," where a diverse cast interacted with a diverse group of children, along with Jim Henson creations Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Elmo and Grover.Delgado joined the show starting with its third season in 1971.