{"id":148818,"date":"2022-12-05T15:19:09","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T15:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bob-mcgrath-of-sesame-street-fame-dies-at-90-after-stroke\/"},"modified":"2022-12-05T15:19:09","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T15:19:09","slug":"bob-mcgrath-of-sesame-street-fame-dies-at-90-after-stroke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/bob-mcgrath-of-sesame-street-fame-dies-at-90-after-stroke\/","title":{"rendered":"Bob McGrath of ‘Sesame Street’ fame dies at 90 after stroke"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Bob McGrath, the smooth-voiced tenor and actor best known for his nearly 50-year run on \u201cSesame Street,\u201d where he was a founding cast member, died Dec. 4 at his home in New Jersey. He was 90.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The cause was complications from a stroke, his daughter Cathlin McGrath confirmed to The Washington Post in an email.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The Sesame Workshop, the nonprofit organization that produces \u201cSesame Street,\u201d remembered Mr. McGrath as \u201ca beloved member of the Sesame Street family,\u201d writing in a statement Sunday: \u201cA founding cast member, Bob embodied the melodies of Sesame Street like no one else, and his performances brought joy and wonder to generations of children around the world, whether teaching them the ABCs, the people in their neighborhood, or the simple joy of feeling music in their hearts.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. McGrath joined the inaugural cast of \u201cSesame Street\u201d in 1969 as Bob Johnson, the affable neighborhood music teacher, alongside three other human characters who sang, lived, worked and learned alongside their fluffy, fuzzy \u2014 and occasionally grouchy \u2014 Muppet counterparts.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But the role almost didn’t happen. Mr. McGrath had spent much of the 1960s performing on TV and working as a folk singer in Japan. He was back in the United States when he bumped into his fraternity brother Dave Connell, who had worked on the children’s show \u201cCaptain Kangaroo,\u201d Mr. McGrath recounted in a 2004 interview with the Television Academy Foundation. Connell asked whether Mr. McGrath was interested in auditioning for a new children’s program he was working on.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNo, not in the least,\u201d Mr. McGrath recalled. \u201cI thought, ‘Hmm, here’s another silly kiddie’s show that doesn’t mean that much.’ \u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Mr. McGrath ended up going forward with the audition and landed the role he would continue until 2017.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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As Sesame Street’s music teacher, Bob Johnson, Mr. McGrath helped young viewers cultivate kindness and curiosity about the world around them through songs like \u201cPeople in Your Neighborhood\u201d and \u201cMorningtown Ride.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The show also tackled death and loss with gentleness, such as in a 1983 episode in which Bob and other characters explain to Big Bird that Mr. Hooper, the grocer, had died following the real-life death of Will Lee, the actor who had portrayed Mr. Hooper since 1969.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThey wrote this beautiful script,\u201d Mr. McGrath said in the Television Academy interview. \u201cWhen we saw it we wondered, are we ever going to get through this? And we barely did.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In the scene, Bob holds back tears as he acknowledges to Big Bird that things will never be the same now that their beloved friend had died.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cBut you know something?\u201d Mr. McGrath’s character says. \u201cWe can all be very happy that we had a chance to be with him, and to know him and to love him a lot when he was here.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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