- You may know him simply as "Mister Rogers," but Fred Rogers, the man behind the beloved children's show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" that ran for 33 years, was more than a TV personality. He was also a producer, writer, musician, puppeteer, showrunner, and Presbyterian minister.
- Tom Hanks took on the role of Rogers in "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," formerly titled "You Are My Friend."
- Rogers started his career behind the scenes at NBC and worked his way up, moving from station to station and eventually getting his own hour-long program called "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" on PBS.
- Mr. Rogers died in 2003, but he is remembered for the way he talked to children about feelings, life events, and, in general, conversations that were typically reserved for when the kids had left the room.
- Now, the animated show "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood" based on Mister Rogers' Neighborhood continues the conversation.
- He was married and had two children of his own, and his life has been chronicled in the 2018 documentary "Won't You Be My Neighbor."
- Here's a look at how Fred became the iconic Mister Rogers.
- Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.
Fred McFeely Rogers was the legendary man behind the television program "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," which ran from 1968 through 2001.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions, NPR
He's most known for his TV show, and the way he used it to teach children about feelings, current events, and other things they may have to deal with throughout their lives.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
He used a family of puppets to convey each storyline ...
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
... and a model town to build the Neighborhood of Make-Believe.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
Even current TV personalities like Jimmy Fallon remember looking forward to watching the next episode of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" when it came out.
Source: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Now, there's a full-length feature film titled "A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood" — a nod to the show as that was part of the theme song — starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers.
Source: IMDb
The story chronicles the evolution of a relationship between Rogers and Tom Junod, a "skeptical" journalist who had been assigned a profile of the TV personality.
Source: IMDb, A Beautiful Day
The film is based on a true story, and shows how a friendship can form between two unlikely people — in this case, between Rogers and Junod — which was a common thread throughout many of the original show's episodes.
Source: A Beautiful Day
Before the feature film, a documentary titled "Won't You Be My Neighbor?" — also a line from the show's theme song — premiered in 2018.
Source: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
The documentary allowed people behind the scenes of the show, but also gave them a look into Fred's life.
Source: Won't You Be My Neighbor?
Rogers was born in March of 1928. He grew up in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a town that embodied the "strong, hard-working, and faith-driven culture of Western Pennsylvania," according to the Fred Rogers Center.
Source: Fred Rogers Center, Encyclopædia Britannica, Fred Rogers Productions
Of his hometown, Rogers once said, "It's the garden spot of the world, as Lady Elaine Fairchilde would say." Lady Elaine Fairchilde was one of the puppet characters on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" — she was a vehicle for displaying anger on screen.
Source: Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, USA Today
"I was interested in puppets, you know, all my young life," Rogers said.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
His parents, James Hillis Rogers and Nancy McFeely Rogers, were both familiar with the world of business — both Rogers' father and maternal grandfather, Fred McFeely, were businessmen.
Source: Fred Rogers Center, Fred Rogers Productions
Although Rogers' work is known for how it brought community and children together to play and imagine, he didn't have a huge community of friends as a child himself.
Source: Fred Rogers Center
Fred's grandfather played a large role in the development of his self-esteem and level of empathy for others. In fact, he affected Fred so much so, that the TV star named a character on his show after the man.
Source: Fred Rogers Center
Rogers went to high school in Latrobe, and then went on to college at Dartmouth University. He began his college career at the Ivy League school ...
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
... but transferred to Rollins College in Orlando, Florida. Rogers graduated from Rollins with a degree in music composition in 1951.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
Rollins was also the place Fred met his wife, Joanne Rogers.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions, Today
In his final year of college, Rogers said he noticed a television program playing at his parents' house and thought it was "horrible." He said he announced to his family that he would go into television rather than the seminary as planned.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
So, after graduating from Rollins College, Fred moved to New York and got a job working for the NBC television network.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
His first gig with NBC was as a "gofer" — someone who does tasks like bringing coffee to studio executives. Eventually, NBC hired Rogers as a floor manager, "after I had carried my share of coffees and Cokes," he said. Rogers floor-managed the Gabby Hayes show among others.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
Hayes and Rogers would chat between filming, and Rogers said he got some great advice from the host: Forget the number of people watching and just connect with one of them. Rogers learned that television is "a very, very personal medium."
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
Joanne told Megyn Kelly that Fred proposed to her in a letter: "Fred worked here at 30 Rock at the same time that I was doing graduate work ... he wrote me a letter the second year he was here ... proposing marriage."
Source: Entertainment Weekly, Today
The pair married in 1952 and moved to Pittsburg a year later so Fred could help start "America's first community-sponsored television station: WQED."
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
Rogers said starting and working at WQED was extremely different from working at NBC. "Here we were, just a half-dozen people trying to get this educational television station on the air," he said.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
WQED featured many educational shows, one of which was a live show called "The Children's Corner" — starring actress Josie Carey and Rogers' puppet, Daniel Tiger. The show was the precursor to "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
While working at WQED, Rogers went back to school — he took classes at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the University of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development. In 1963, Rogers was ordained as a Presbyterian minister — he wanted to continue his work with children.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
From WQED, Rogers moved his band of puppets to Canada — the Canadian Broadcasting Company gave him the opportunity for a daily special called "Mister Rogers." The CBC created parts of the now-iconic set for the Neighborhood of Make-Believe in late 1963.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
Three years later, in 1966, Rogers and his family moved back to Pittsburgh and his show evolved again — this time into "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood." It jumped around from network to network until it landed on PBS.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions
By the time Fred and Joanne moved back to Pittsburgh again, they had two children — sons John and Jim.
Source: Fred Rogers Productions, Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times reported that the 2018 documentary featured an anecdote from John about having Fred as a father: "It was difficult to have the second Christ as your dad."
Source: Los Angeles Times
Fred and Joanne were married for 50 years before Fred died of stomach cancer in 2003.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Fred's legacy as a person lives on in many ways including through the Mister Rogers Memorial Scholarship from 2006 through '17 — which awarded $5,000 scholarships to students pursuing a career in children's media.
Source: Television Academy Foundation
Rogers also lives on in the memories of celebrities and public figures of today. "He talked about stuff that was adult stuff, to children," late-night talk show host, Fallon said. "He talked about divorce ... he talked about war, death, assassination ..."
Source: The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Yo-Yo Ma, famed cellist, credited Mr. Rogers with his learned ability to be a public figure, Ma's son Nicholas said in an interview.
Source: Today
Talk show host Megyn Kelly said she remembered Rogers addressing the aftermath of terror attacks on September 11, 2001, by saying, "In these times, look for the helpers." Ma added that the saying came from Rogers' mother, who would say, "Wherever you go, there are always people that are trying to help."
Source: Today
In an interview with Variety, Tom Hanks said, "Everybody who we met who had worked with Fred ... said 'When you talked to Fred, you felt as though you were the most important person in the world.'"
Source: Variety
"Playing Fred made me a better listener," Hanks said.
Source: Variety
His legacy on TV is also continuing through the animated series, "Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood."
Source: PBS
Joanne confirmed in an interview that the tiger puppet called Daniel was really the embodiment of Fred himself. So it seems only fitting that the small tiger cub wears a red sweater and sneakers, just like Fred was known for.
Source: Today
https://ift.tt/2oi3bJA
Tags:
US Business news