Marty Krofft, who with his brother Sid helped revolutionize children’s programming in the 1970s, earning him the nickname “King of Saturday Mornings,” has died. According to his family, Krofft died in Los Angeles from kidney failure at age 86.
Known for their large-scale, vividly colorful puppets, Sid and Marty Krofft created iconic shows such as H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, , Land of the Lost, The Bugaloos, Lidsville, Pryor’s Place (starring Richard Pryor), Far Out Space Nuts, Lost Saucer, The Krofft Supershow, Wonderbug and Bigfoot, Electra Woman & Dyna Girl, Dr. Shrinker, and Bigfoot & Wildboy.
The Krofft brothers were both born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, with their original surname being Yolas. Sid Krofft became a popular puppeteer who worked in vaudeville and was a featured player with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. In the 1940s, Sid created a one-man puppet show, “The Unusual Artistry of Sid Krofft“, and performed it throughout the world. His father joined him on tour in Paris while Marty stayed in New York, where he began using his older brother’s puppets to earn money by staging performances. By the 1950s, the Krofft brothers were working together, and in 1957, they developed Les Poupées de Paris, a puppet show with more mature themes. One of their early exposures to a television audience was the premiere episode of The Dean Martin Show in 1965.
After designing the characters and sets for Hanna-Barbera’s The Banana Splits (NBC, 1968–1970), the Kroffts’ producing career began in 1969 with the landmark children’s television series H.R. Pufnstuf. The series introduced the team’s trademark style of large-scale, colorful design, puppetry, and special effects. Featuring a boy who has been lured into an alternate fantasy world and can never escape, the team also established a storytelling formula to which they would often return.
The Krofft brothers also expanded into primetime television with variety shows Donny & Marie, The Brady Bunch Hour, and Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters. In 1976, a developer asked the Kroffts to develop an indoor amusement park for the new Omni International complex downtown Atlanta. The park, The World of Sid and Marty Krofft, closed after six months due to poor attendance. The Omni International building that contained it was renamed the CNN Center when the site was converted to the CNN headquarters.
