--- title: Sonia Manzano Remembers Sesame Street Co-Star Emilio Delgado description: Sonia Manzano, who played Maria on Sesame Street, pays tribute to her on-screen husband Emilio Delgado, who played Luis. canonical: https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/ author: Sonia Manzano article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-03-17T19:49:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T14:01:13.393Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Sonia Manzano Pays Tribute to her 'Sesame Street' Husband, the ‘Eternally Positive’ Emilio Delgado og:description: Sesame Street's Maria on how the late actor created a groundbreaking role model for Latino children og:url: https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4048000656f8c4b1/698a2fff47ca381d133b9618/emilio-delgado-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: emilio-delgado-obituary og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sonia Manzano Pays Tribute to her 'Sesame Street' Husband, the ‘Eternally Positive’ Emilio Delgado twitter:description: Sesame Street's Maria on how the late actor created a groundbreaking role model for Latino children twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4048000656f8c4b1/698a2fff47ca381d133b9618/emilio-delgado-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # _Sesame Street_'s Sonia Manzano Pays Tribute to Her On-Screen Husband, Emilio Delgado by [Sonia Manzano](https://time.com/author/sonia-manzano/) ## Sonia Manzano Mar 17, 2022 7:49 PM UTC  Emilio Delgado with Ernie and Bert in the '90s on Sesame Street Emilio Delgado with Ernie and Bert in the '90s on Sesame StreetRichard Termine—PBS/Everett Collection by [Sonia Manzano](https://time.com/author/sonia-manzano/) ## Sonia Manzano Mar 17, 2022 7:49 PM UTC Emilio Delgado, who died March 10 at the age of 81, played Luis, the Fix-It Shop owner on [_Sesame Street_,](https://time.com/3563830/sesame-street-trivia/) for more than four decades. When I first met Emilio, in the late sixties, I thought he was an activist for the Cesar Chavez Farm Workers Union, because as a supporter he went around pinning [_Boycott Grapes_](https://time.com/5211356/dolores-huerta-pbs-documentary/) buttons on everyone he came into contact with! Ultimately, his social consciousness didn’t end there. Days later, I realized he was one of us: a child of the ’60s and an actor happy to have a job. He could not have realized [the impact he would have](https://time.com/6046786/street-gang-review-sesame-street/), especially on Latino children. My nephew, who is now in his 50s, told me that as a little boy, he wanted to grow up and become a man like Luis. How wonderful that Emilio’s strength, warmth, and kindness were attractive enough for children to want to emulate. _Sesame Street_ always wanted the human cast members to be themselves, and in allowing Emilio to be himself they hit the jackpot. **_Read more:_** [_‘We’re All Growing Up Together’: As_ Sesame Street _Turns 50, Big Bird Is Still Making Friends Everywhere He Goes_](https://time.com/5720741/big-bird-sesame-street-interview/) In 1988, my character \[Maria\] and Luis had a widely watched onscreen wedding. At that time, Latinos on television were the butt of a joke. Our wedding presented flesh-and-blood Latinos [wanting the same things out of life](https://time.com/5947731/sesame-workshop-black-muppets/) as other Americans. To love, get married, have a baby, send them to daycare, go camping. Our affection for each other came through so strongly people thought we had really gotten married. And even after correcting a woman once, telling her we were not really married, she quipped, “No worries, as long as you really love each other!” Emilio held children in high regard, saw adults as individuals, always defended the underdog, and was eternally positive. His son pointed this out to me: At Emilio’s mother’s funeral when all mourners sadly looked down, he looked up. No doubt searching for life’s possibilities. I will miss him. _—As told to Sanya Mansoor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/"},"headline":"Sesame Street's Sonia Manzano Pays Tribute to Her On-Screen Husband, Emilio Delgado","datePublished":"2022-03-17T19:49:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-24T14:01:13.393Z","description":"'Our wedding presented flesh-and-blood Latinos wanting the same things out of life as other Americans.'","url":"https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/","keywords":["remembrance"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4048000656f8c4b1/698a2fff47ca381d133b9618/emilio-delgado-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sonia Manzano","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sonia-manzano/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4048000656f8c4b1/698a2fff47ca381d133b9618/emilio-delgado-obituary.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"emilio-delgado-obituary","caption":"Emilio Delgado with Ernie and Bert in the '90s on Sesame Street","creditText":"Richard Termine—PBS/Everett Collection","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/remembrance/","name":"remembrance"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/6158342/sonia-manzano-sesame-street-emilio-delgado/","name":"Sesame Street's Sonia Manzano Pays Tribute to Her On-Screen Husband, Emilio Delgado"}}]}] ```