Isabel Sanford

Isabel Sanford was a Broadway actress for over thirty years before moving to Hollywood. She received numerous credit for appearances on TV, including a stint as a supporting cast member on The Carol Burnett Show. Until her passing, Isabel continued to act frequently, most recently in a series of commercials for Old Navy stores with her The Jeffersons co-star, Sherman Hemsley. In September 2003, Sanford underwent preventive surgery on her carotid artery. In the ensuing months, her health steadily declined.

She was hospitalized again at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center on July 4, 2004, where she passed five days later—a month before her 87th birthday. She had been married to William Edward “Sonny” Richmond, and the two shared a home where they lived in with their three children before they separated. In 1960, she moved with her children to California while Richmond stayed in New York. Isabel later became an active supporter of politics as a Democrat, and even contributed to the presidential campaign of Jesse Jackson in 1988.