Fred Rogers was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania (March 20, 1928) and died ofstomach cancer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (February 27, 2003). He was the host of the popular long-running public television children’s show Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. The show debuted in Pittsburgh in 1967 and was picked up by PBS the next year, becoming a staple of public TV stations around the United States. Rogers’ mild manner, cardigan sweaters and soft speaking voice made him both widely beloved and widely parodied. Rogers ended production of the show in 2001, but reruns of the show continued to be aired on many PBS stations.
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o In an interview, Fred Rogers said the hardest time on his television show was when he had to go straight from his father’s funeral to the studio and have to sing “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”, while trying not to cry on-camera.
o The iconic cardigan sweaters he wore were hand knit by his mother.
o According to one story, Rogers invited his limo driver, Billy, to a dinner hosted by a network executive, so that he wouldn’t have to sit and wait for two hours. Afterwards, he rode in the limo’s front seat to talk to Billy, and when he learned that they’d be passing Billy’s family’s house along the way to the hotel, Rogers asked if they could stop over so he could meet them. The affair became an impromptu party. Neighbors brought treats and Rogers entertained them by playing jazz piano. A few years later, when Rogers learned that Billy was dying of AIDS, he took time to call him in the hospital.
o His wife Sara Joanne Byrd was his college sweetheart.
o He received his Bachelor’s degree in Music Composition, and wrote most of the music performed on his show.
o He received his divinity degree from the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary (1962). The Presbyterian church ordained him and charged him with a special mission: in effect, to keep on doing what he was doing on television.
o In December 1998, in a rare display of anger, Mr. Rogers filed suit against a Texas store for using his likeness on T-shirts, which contained a handgun and the slogan, “Welcome to my ‘hood”. Rogers did not simply want the T-shirts discontinued; he wanted them destroyed.
o On July 9, 2002, President George W. Bush presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House.
o Rogers never did any commercial promotions of any kind.
o From its premiere on February 19, 1968, until its end on August 31, 2001, 895 episodes of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood (1968) were produced, all of which he wrote and executive produced.
o During Halloween, the Rogers family always gave out sugar-free candies to local trick-or-treaters.
o Rogers’ gentle manner was the butt of some comedian’s jokes. Eddie Murphy parodied him on Saturday Night Live (1975) in the 1980s with his “Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood”, a routine Rogers found funny and affectionate. The fact that sketches were initially broadcast around midnight when Rogers’ usual audience was in bed was likely another reason Rogers had no problem with the parody.
o 305 of the 895 episodes of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” still air today as reruns.
o Rogers was ordained as a Presbyterian minister (1963).
o Even though he was officially an ordained minister, he never once said the word “God” in all his hours of television.
o When Mister Rogers came on television singing his song, many children who actually lived on his street used to shout at their televisions, “But you ARE our neighbor!”
o Fred McFeely Rogers passed away on February 27, 2003, only three weeks away from what would have been his 75th birthday on March 20.
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