NORWOOD, NEW JERSEY: Bob McGrath, an actor who spent more than half his life portraying a resident on 'Sesame Street' and gave the popular children's program a human face throughout 47 seasons of broadcast television, died on Sunday, December 4, at the age of 90, according to his family.
His family announced his death on his Facebook page, stating, The McGrath family has some sad news to share. Our father, Bob McGrath, passed away today. He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family.
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Bob McGrath: Iconic 'Sesame Street' original cast member dies at 90
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In the original cast of 'Sesame Street,' which debuted in 1969, McGrath played the kind neighbor Bob Johnson. He made his last/final appearance on the show in 2017, bringing an almost five-decade career on 'Sesame Street' to an end.
Who are Bob McGrath's children?
On his first day in New York City, Mr. McGrath met Ann Logan Sperry, a preschool teacher, who he later married. They had a great connection and stayed married. In their more than 60 years together, they had five kids and eight grandchildren. Bob is survived by his now 89-year-old wife, Ann McGrath, and their children — Liam McGrath, Robert McGrath, Alison McGrath Osder, Lily McGrath, and Cathlin McGrath. Eileen Strobel, his eldest sister, is also still alive, as reported by the New York Times.
The actor, who was born in Illinois, was tutored in music at the University of Michigan and the Manhattan School of Music. Additionally, he performed on the television program Sing Along With Mitch in the 1960s. His successful singing career started in Japan where he released a series of successful albums of Irish and other folk songs and ballads sung in Japanese. He always wanted to be a singer before he even thought about acting.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, when he was a little child, he would sing along while his mother played the piano and had started appearing in neighborhood theaters by age 5. McGrath, who had two brothers and two sisters growing up, was close to his mother, who was the first to teach him songs like the children's rhyme 'A Tisket, A Tasket.' When he was five years old, a young McGrath began singing for his father during his lunch break from working on the farm, as per reports.
In addition to his TV career on 'Sesame Street,' Bob McGrath was also a children's author, writing books like 'Uh Oh! Gotta Go!' and 'OOPS! Excuse Me Please!' McGrath said that his two favorite moments on 'Sesame Street' were in the 1978 Christmas special that included a muppet skit inspired by 'The Gift of the Magi', and the 1983 sequence that candidly addressed the death of Mr. Hooper, a longtime character on the show, according to Entertainment Weekly.