Marty Krofft, the visionary TV producer renowned for creating imaginative children's shows like 'H.R. Pufnstuf' and prime-time hits such as 'Donny & Marie' in the 1970s, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 86.
Marty Krofft, a TV producer known for iconic children’s TV shows, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 86.
Marty Krofft, the visionary TV producer renowned for creating imaginative children's shows like 'H.R. Pufnstuf' and prime-time hits such as 'Donny & Marie' in the 1970s, has died in Los Angeles at the age of 86.
According to his publicist, Harlan Boll, Marty died on Saturday of kidney failure.
Marty and his brother Sid, initially puppeteers, successfully entered the television industry and earned stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Along the way, they brought a trippy sensibility to children’s TV and brought singling siblings Donny and Marie Osmond and Barbara Mandrell and her sisters to primetime.
The Osmonds’ clean-cut variety show, featuring the youngest-ever TV hosts of that era, became an enduring piece of '70s cultural history. It experienced a revival as a daytime talk show in the 1990s and a Broadway Christmas show in 2010.
Meanwhile, 'H.R. Pufnstuf', despite having only 17 episodes, demonstrated remarkable staying power in pop culture. The surreal show, featuring an island, a witch, a talking flute, a shipwrecked boy, and a redheaded dragon in cowboy boots, ranked 27th in a 2007 TV Guide poll of all-time cult favorites.
More than four decades after its debut, the title character reappeared in an episode of another Krofft brothers' success, "Mutt & Stuff," which ran for multiple seasons on Nickelodeon.
“To make another hit at this time in our lives, I’ve got to give ourselves a pat on the back,” Marty Krofft told The Associated Press ahead of the episode’s taping in 2015.
They were honored with a Daytime Emmy for lifetime achievement in 2018. They got their Walk of Fame star two years later.
Sid Krofft said on Instagram that he was heartbroken by his younger brother’s death, telling fans, “All of you meant the world to him.”
While other producers might have contented themselves with their achievements far earlier, Marty Krofft indicated to The AP in 2015 that he had no interest in stepping back from show business.
“What am I gonna do—retire and watch daytime television and be dead in a month?” he asked.