

As Maria, she and Luis became the masters of repair, including a large quantity of toasters, as co-owners of the Fix-It Shop. In 1971, she auditioned for "Sesame Street," then only 2 years old.

She moved up with it as it transferred to a club in New York's Greenwich Village, then to off-Broadway, then Broadway. She began her show business career in the original cast of the musical "Godspell," which began as a student production on the Carnegie Mellon campus.

She has also written children's books.īorn in a Puerto Rican neighborhood of The Bronx that resembled the city world "Sesame Street" would later embrace, Manzano attended Manhattan's High School of Performing Arts and then Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. Manzano also served as a writer for the show, sharing in 15 Emmy awards as a member of the writing team.
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Having the opportunity of doing this has been phenomenal,” McGrath told the Television Academy’s Archive of American Television in 2004.A beloved resident of Sesame Street since she was a teenager, the character Maria owned the neighborhood repair shop with husband Luis (played by Emilio Delgado, who remains on the show). “Not only is it a great job working with great people but knowing the impact that ‘Sesame Street’ has had on millions of kids all over the world has to be the most gratifying thing that anyone could possibly hope for.
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In addition to the weekly TV series, McGrath appeared in numerous “Sesame Street”-related productions such as 1996’s “Sesame Street: Elmo Saves Christmas,” the 1985 theatrical release “Follow That Bird” and 1978’s “A Special Sesame Street Christmas.” He also made numerous appearances on behalf of the show in the annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and “The Mike Douglas Show,” among other specials. But he never expressed public frustration with typecasting. McGrath was indelibly associated with “Sesame Street” for the rest of his career. McGrath was part of an ensemble of actors who shared the “Sesame Street” screen with the distinctive Muppet characters created by Jim Henson, another media visionary, that included Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Cookie Monster and Grover.
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The series marked the medium’s most significant effort to use television as a vehicle with national scale for reaching small children with educational content. In 1969, McGrath stepped into his signature role on “Sesame Street,” which was a pop culture force from its debut on the then-fledging PBS network in November 1969. His final series appearance came in 2017, but McGrath did not step away from his association with the series after that, continuing to make public appearances at various events tied to “Sesame Street.”ĭuring his time on the series, McGrath was featured in several of the show’s most iconic sequences, including musical performances of “People in Your Neighborhood.” He played the friendly neighbor Bob Johnson, a “Sesame Street” mainstay across five decades and 47 seasons of broadcast television. McGrath first appeared in the series pilot in 1969. We will be forever grateful for his many years of passionate creative contributions to Sesame Street and honored that he shared so much of his life with us.” “A revered performer worldwide, Bob’s rich tenor filled airwaves and concert halls from Las Vegas to Saskatchewan to Tokyo many times over.

“Bob embodied the melodies of Sesame Street like no one else, and his performances brought joy and wonder to generations of children around the world, whether teaching them the ABCs, the people in their neighborhood, or the simple joy of feeling music in their hearts,” reads Sesame Workshop’s statement. Sesame Workshop / Courtesy Everett Collection Sesame Workshop shared a statement mourning the “beloved member of the Sesame Street family for over 50 years.” Sesame Street cast members, including, Bob McGrath, right, in 1969.
