Sesame Street star Bob McGrath dies aged 90
BOB McGrath, who played the sweater-clad neighbourhood music teacher and general advice-giver on Sesame Street for almost half a century, died Sunday (Dec 4) morning. He was 90.
His daughter, Cat McGrath, said he died of complications following a stroke.
McGrath was not particularly interested when an old Phi Gamma Delta fraternity brother told him one night about an upcoming children’s show on public television. But then, McGrath had never heard of puppeteer Jim Henson, and he had never seen a Muppet.
After his first meeting and a look at some of the animation, he knew this show would be different.
Sesame Street premiered in November 1969, with McGrath and other cast members gathered around an urban brownstone stoop, in front of the building’s dark green doors, beside its omnipresent collection of metal garbage cans. His character was conveniently and coincidentally named Bob.
Whether he was singing about People in Your Neighbourhood – the butcher, the baker, the lifeguard – or discussing everyday concerns with young humans and Muppets, or just taking a day trip to Grouchytown with Oscar the Grouch, Bob was reliably smiling, easygoing and polite.
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Viewers were outraged when McGrath was fired in 2016, along with two other long-time cast members – Emilio Delgado, who played Luis, and Roscoe Orman, who played Gordon. When HBO took over the broadcasting rights to the series, the trio’s contracts were not renewed.
But McGrath took the news graciously, expressing gratitude for 47 years of “working with phenomenal people”. He was also grateful for a whole career beyond Sesame Street, doing family concerts with major symphony orchestras.
“I’m really very happy to stay home with my wife and children a little bit more,” he said at Florida Supercon, an annual comic book and pop culture convention, later in 2016.
“I’d be so greedy if I wanted five minutes more.”
Robert Emmett McGrath was born on Jun 13, 1932, in Ottawa, Illinois, about 130 km south-west of Chicago. He was the youngest of five children.
His father was a farmer, while his mother sang and played the piano. She recognised his talent by the time he was five. Bob was soon winning competitions in Chicago and appearing on the radio. He did musical plays and studied privately but, as a practical matter, intended to study engineering.
The summer after his high school graduation, Bob was invited to attend a music camp outside Chicago. Teachers there encouraged him to change his plans, and he “did an about-face”. He recalled this in a 2004 video interview for the Television Academy Foundation.
He majored in voice performance at the University of Michigan, graduating in 1954. He spent the next two years in the army, mostly in Stuttgart, Germany, where he worked with the 7th Army Symphony. Then he went to New York, where he received a master’s degree from the Manhattan School of Music.
He took a job with St David’s, a private boys school in Manhattan. Freelance singing assignments, obtained through a vocal contractor, paid the bills until 1961, when Sing Along with Mitch came along. He was one of 25 male singers who appeared every week on the NBC show, performing traditional favourites like Home on the Range, The Yellow Rose of Texas, It’s a Long Way to Tipperary and I’ll Take You Home Again, Kathleen.
As St Patrick’s Day approached, the programme’s host and producer, Mitch Miller, asked McGrath if he knew the song Mother Machree. McGrath had been singing the sentimental Irish American number since he was a little boy. Miller was so impressed with McGrath’s rendition and light lyric tenor that he doubled his salary and made him the show’s featured male soloist.
After Sing Along with Mitch ended in 1964, the cast played Las Vegas and did a 30-stop tour in Japan. That led to an unusual chapter in McGrath’s career: teenage idol.
Schoolgirls chanted his name at concerts and organised fan clubs. Their demand brought him back to Japan nine times over the next three years; he recorded nine albums there, singing in both English and Japanese. His repertoire included Japanese folk ballads, on which he was accompanied by a shakuhachi, or bamboo flute. Back home, he amused American television viewers by singing Danny Boy in Japanese.
When Sesame Street began, it led to a very different collection of albums for McGrath, with names like Sing Along With Bob and Songs and Games for Toddlers.
He also learned American Sign Language, which he used regularly on camera with Linda Bove, a cast member who was born deaf.
Asked about important memories of his years on the series, McGrath often named the 1983 episode devoted to children’s, adults’ and Muppets’ reactions to the death of Will Lee. Lee played Mr Hooper on the show for 13 years. Another favourite of McGrath’s was the 1978 holiday special Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, particularly the Bert and Ernie segment inspired by The Gift of the Magi.
In 1958, McGrath married Ann Logan Sperry, a preschool teacher he had met on his first day in New York City. They had five children.
When asked about his association with Sesame Street, McGrath reflected: “It’s a very different kind of fame.”
He recalled a little boy in a store who came up to him and took his hand. At first, he thought he had been mistaken for the child’s father. When he realised that the boy seemed to think they knew each other, McGrath asked: “Do you know my name?”
“Bob.”
“Do you know where I live?”
“Sesame Street.”
“Do you know any of my other friends on Sesame Street?”
“Yep,” the boy answered, promptly giving an example: “Oh, the number 7.” NYT
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