Goodbye Sesame Street Actor Emilio Delgado Passes Away

Emilio Delgado of Sesame Street (Photo: iMdB)

JAKARTA - Actor Emilio Delgado, known for his role as Fix-It Shop owner Luis Rodriguez on Sesame Street, has died at the age of 81.

"We are saddened by the news of Emilio's passing. He is an incredible talent who brought so much joy and smiles to his fans," said Robert Attermann, CEO of the 13 Artsist Agency, quoted by Variety on Friday, March 11.

"He will be missed by many and we know his legacy will live on."

Emilio Delgado was born in California and raised in Mexico. He started his career as an actor in the late 60's. He made his first screen appearance in the opera Canción de la Raza.

In 1970, he enrolled as a student at the California Institute of the Arts. During the summer before his sophomore year at the college, he interviewed Jon Stone, the chief producer and writer of Sesame Street. He was then lined up as a new cast for the third season.

Quoted from ANTARA, Delgado no longer appears regularly in episodes of Sesame Street because he did not renew his contract. He made one last appearance on the show in 2017 in the episode Having a Ball.

In 2019, he appeared at a special event celebrating Sesame Street's 50th anniversary. Then in 2021, he was interviewed in the Sesame Street retrospective documentary Street Gang.

In the interview, Delgado revealed that Sesame Street had a huge impact on his life and the importance of the character in providing an overview of Latino men.