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Fred Rogers Filmography
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Theiapolis - Casper
1995 - Actor (Mr. Rogers)
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Fred Rogers: Life and work
In 1954, he began working at WQED Pittsburgh as a puppeteer on a local children's television series,
The Children's Corner. For the next seven years, he worked in unscripted live TV, and developed many of the puppets, characters and music used in his later work, such as King Friday the XIII, and Curious X the Owl.
During this period, for eight years he gave up lunch breaks to study theology at a nearby seminary. He had planned to enter seminary after college, but had been diverted into television. In 1962 he was ordained as a Presbyterian minister, and specifically charged to continue his work with children's TV.
In 1963, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation contracted him to develop a 15 minute children's show,
Mister Rogers' Show.
In 1966 he moved the show back to WQED in Pittsburgh, incorporating parts of the show into a show he developed for the Eastern Educational Network to cities including Boston, Massachusetts, Washington, DC and New York City.
In 1972 Rogers was the commencement speaker for the graduation ceremony at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
In 2002 Rogers gave the
Commencement Address at Dartmouth College.
Distribution of
Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood began on National Educational Television on February 19, 1968. The following year the show moved to the PBS network, where it continues to be broadcast today. The last set of new episodes was taped in December 2000 and began airing on August 2001.
After returning to Pittsburgh, he was an active congregational member in the Sixth Presbyterian church of Pittsburgh until his death.
Rogers' show won four Emmy awards, including one for lifetime achievement. He also received a Peabody Award in 1983, "in recognition of 25 beautiful years in the neighborhood". On July 9, 2002, Fred Rogers received the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contributions to children's education. "Fred Rogers has proven that television can soothe the soul and nurture the spirit and teach the very young," said President George W. Bush at the presentation.
He was born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, about 30 miles (50 km) southeast of Pittsburgh. He studied early childhood development at the University of Pittsburgh.
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