Sesame Street icon Bob McGrath, who was among the first stars of the show, died peacefully at his family home on Sunday “surrounded by his family.” The Sesame Street original actor also wrote the show’s iconic theme song and appeared in forty-seven seasons of the childhood favorite program. He passed away “peacefully” at his New Jersey home at the age of ninety-one, following a long career in child entertainment as an icon on the famous Sesame Street program for PBS.
McGrath appeared in the pilot episode of Sesame Street which aired back in 1969. He then followed through with his commitment to the children’s program and appeared in forty-seven seasons of the popular program until he retired from the show. His final episode of Sesame Street was entitled “Having a Ball” and aired in 2017.
Throughout his career on Sesame Street, McGrath appeared in more than 150 episodes of the show. He also appeared in many direct-to-video movies from Sesame Street as well as two feature films from the iconic children’s show.
McGrath’s family shared a social media update on Facebook following the icon’s passing this past Sunday.
“Our father Bob McGrath passed away today. He died peacefully at home, surrounded by his family,” said a post on the entertainer’s Facebook page.
McGrath was a puppeteer who enjoyed conducting educational lessons with puppets for children. He was also a songwriter and wrote many songs for Sesame Street including People in Your Neighborhood If You’re Happy and You Know It, Sing a Song, as well as the Sesame Street theme song, which has been airing with the show for years.
He was one of the four original Sesame Street actors hired to launch the show back in 1969. He played a character called Bob, his namesake, alongside other Sesame Street greats like Matt Robinson as Gordon, Loretta Long as Susan, and Will Lee as Mr. Hooper.
Back in 1998, McGrath spoke to the Sun-Times about his days with Sesame Street, “We’ve always looked at children as just short people. We’ve never talked down to them. The kids we were meant to reach, I think we’ve reached. They’ve grown up. They’re in their 30s now. They have kids of their own, our Sesame Seeds, and they come up to me and say: ‘Thank you very much. It made a major difference in our lives.’”
Following his retirement from appearing on Sesame Street in 2017, he continued to work behind the scenes with the show as part of the Sesame Workshop.
Other actors, including Josh Gad, paid tribute to Bob McGrath in their own tributes posted to social media.
Gad wrote, “McGrath was my childhood. Thank you for helping to teach us kindness, respect, love, and empathy. You were as much a teacher to my generation as any of our actual educators. RIP.”
McGrath’s final appearance for Sesame Street was in a 2021 documentary film entitled Sesame Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street.
McGrath is survived by his wife, Ann, and their three children, and five grandchildren.