Marty Krofft, co-creator of hit kids’ Television shows, dies of kidney failure at 86
CNN
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Marty Krofft, co-producer of iconic children’s tv exhibits which includes “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Misplaced,” died Saturday afternoon in California, his agent introduced. He was 86.
Krofft died of kidney failure in Los Angeles surrounded by family and buddies, his publicist B. Harlan Boll said in a assertion.
The producer, together with his brother, Sid Krofft, are acknowledged for their perform producing hit children’s television reveals that spanned various generations in the 1970s.
The duo experienced been executing puppet reveals when NBC asked them to produce a Saturday early morning children’s sequence. That grew to become “H.R. Pufnstuf,” which experienced set up alone as a fan-favorite character from their dwell gigs.
“Its results spawned a aspect movie, manufactured with Common Pics as a spouse and distributor,” his representative wrote.
Sid & Marty Krofft Shots turned a household name in the 1970s, assisting start them into developing and producing family members and children displays for a lot more than 50 decades. Sooner or later, Marty Krofft would be referred to as the “King of Saturday Mornings.”
Krofft and his brother are the brains guiding television demonstrates like “The Bugaloos,” “Lidsville,” “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” “Pryor’s Location,” “Far Out Room Nuts,” “The Shed Saucer,” “The Krofft Supershow,” “Wonderbug,” “Electra Lady and Dyna Woman,” “Dr. Shrinker,” and “Bigfoot & Wildboy.”
The Krofft brothers, fueled by creativity and a huge dream, wished their Tv set people to reside outside the house the tv box. In 1976, they opened an amusement park in Atlanta, in what was then known as The Omni. To simply call it fantastical may possibly be an understatement.
Site visitors to “The Globe of Sid and Marty Krofft” rode an 8-story escalator and had been greeted by actors in costume, a carousel and a trip in which they sat in a human-sized pinball, ricocheting through a class, according to the Atlanta Background Centre.
It was all so groovy and enjoyment – until eventually the park petered out for a multitude of explanations just a several months later. But the Kroffts stay on in Atlanta. The Omni was renamed CNN Middle, and all those who took excursions of CNN’s Atlanta functions started by using up the escalator.
In the late 1980s, Krofft and his brother developed and produced the satirical series “D.C. Follies,” which showcased a solid of lifestyle-size puppets depicting prominent figures which includes Richard Nixon and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The clearly show, which ran for two seasons from 1987 to 1989 for the duration of prime time, turned a strike among politicians as properly as the general public.
Soon after appearing on a function show on CBS in 1988, Krofft developed a collection of reside displays entitled “Comedy Kings” for the Sands Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
Other prime time reveals include things like “Donny & Marie” on ABC, “The Brady Bunch Hour,” and “Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.’
The Krofft brothers have been awarded the Life span Career Award at the Saturn Awards in 2003 for building some of people most iconic fantastical television demonstrates.
In 2018, they been given the Life time Achievement Emmy Award from the National Academy of Tv Arts & Sciences. The pair been given a star on the environment-renowned Hollywood Stroll of Fame in 2020 in recognition of their “Golden Anniversary.”
Most just lately, Krofft been given the Julie Award at the 2023 Dragon Con in Atlanta.
Marty Krofft is survived by brothers, Harry Krofft and Sid Krofft his daughters Deanna Krofft-Pope, Kristina and Kendra Krofft 5 grandchildren and a great-grandchild.
CNN’s Phil Gast contributed to this report.
