She’s got a deluxe apartment in the sky

Isabel Sanford, best known as long-suffering wife Louise “Weezie” Jefferson, died today at the age of 86, sparing her the ignominy of appearing in any more of those dreadful Old Navy commercials. In addition to The Jeffersons, Sanford played Weezie on its parent show All in the Family, as well as cameos in Jane Austen’s Mafia and The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Sanford had spent 30 years on stage, and played the maid in Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn, before landing the role of her career, for which she was nominated for 7 consecutive Leading Actress in a Comedy Emmys, scoring a win in 1980. Sanford had continued working through the last year of her life, including a Simpsons cameo last season, and was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame earlier this year.