Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003), better known asMister Rogers, was an American television personality,Presbyterianminister, and author. He was the creator, showrunner, and host of the preschool television seriesMister Rogers' Neighborhood, which ran from 1968 to 2001.
Born inLatrobe, Pennsylvania, Rogers earned a bachelor's degree in music fromRollins College in 1951. He began his television career atNBC in New York City, returning to Pittsburgh in 1953 to work for children's programming at NET (laterPBS) television stationWQED. He graduated fromPittsburgh Theological Seminary with a bachelor's degree in divinity in 1962 and became a Presbyterian minister in 1963. He attended theUniversity of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development, where he began his thirty-year collaboration with child psychologistMargaret McFarland. He also helped develop the children's showsThe Children's Corner (1955) for WQED in Pittsburgh andMisterogers (1963) in Canada for theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1968, he returned to Pittsburgh and adapted the format of his Canadian series to createMister Rogers' Neighborhood. It ran for 33 years and was critically acclaimed for focusing on children's emotional and physical concerns, such as death, sibling rivalry, school enrollment, and divorce.
Rogers died ofstomach cancer in 2003, aged 74. His work in children's television has been widely lauded, and he received more than forty honorary degrees and several awards, including aLifetime Achievement Emmy in 1997 and thePresidential Medal of Freedom in 2002. He was inducted into theTelevision Hall of Fame in 1999. Rogers influenced many writers and producers of children's television shows, and his broadcasts provided comfort during tragic events, even after his death.
Early life
Rogers was born in 1928, at 705 Main Street inLatrobe, Pennsylvania.[1] His father, James Hillis Rogers, was "a very successful businessman"[2] who was president of the McFeely Brick Company, one of Latrobe's most prominent businesses and founded in 1900. His mother, Nancy (née McFeely), knitted sweaters for American soldiers from western Pennsylvania who were fighting in Europe and regularly volunteered at the Latrobe Hospital. Initially dreaming of becoming a doctor, she settled for a life of hospital volunteer work. Her father, Fred Brooks McFeely, after whom Rogers was named, was an entrepreneur.[3]
Rogers grew up in a large three-story brick house at 737 Weldon Street in Latrobe.[1][4] He had a sister, Elaine, whom the Rogerses adopted when he was eleven years old.[4] Rogers spent much of his childhood alone, playing with puppets, and spent time with his grandfather. He began playing the piano when he was five.[5]
Rogers had a difficult childhood. Shy, introverted, and overweight, he was frequently homebound after suffering bouts ofasthma.[2] He was bullied as a child for his weight and called "Fat Freddy".[6] According toMorgan Neville, director of the 2018 documentaryWon't You Be My Neighbor?, Rogers had a "lonely childhood... I think he made friends with himself as much as he could. He had aventriloquist dummy, he had [stuffed] animals, and he would create his own worlds in his childhood bedroom".[6]
Rogers in Latrobe High School's 1946 yearbook.
Rogers attendedLatrobe High School, where he overcame his shyness.[7] "It was tough for me at the beginning," Rogers told NPR'sTerry Gross in 1984, "and then I made a couple friends who found out that the core of me was okay. And one of them was... the head of the football team".[8] Rogers became president of the student council, a member of theNational Honor Society, and editor-in-chief of the schoolyearbook.[7] He registered for the draft inGreensburg, Pennsylvania, in 1948 at age 20, where he was classified 1-A (available for military service);[9] however, his status was changed to unqualified for military service following an Armed Forces physical on October 12, 1950.[9] He attendedDartmouth College for one year before transferring toRollins College,[5] where he graduatedmagna cum laude[3] in 1951 with aBachelor of Music.[10]
He then attendedPittsburgh Theological Seminary, from which he graduatedmagna cum laude in 1962 with aBachelor of Divinity, and was ordained a Presbyterian minister by the Pittsburgh Presbytery of theUnited Presbyterian Church in 1963.[10][11][12] His work as an ordained minister, rather than to pastor a church, was to minister to children and their families through television. He regularly appeared before church officials to maintain his ordination.[13]
Career
Early work
Rogers wanted to enterseminary after college,[14] but instead chose to go into the nascent medium of television after experiencing TV at his parents' home in 1951, during his senior year at Rollins College.[15] In aCNN interview, he said, "I went into television because I hated it so, and I thought there's some way of using this fabulous instrument to nurture those who would watch and listen".[16][note 1] After graduating in 1951, he worked atNBC in New York City as floor director ofYour Hit Parade,The Kate Smith Hour, andGabby Hayes's children's show, and as an assistant producer ofThe Voice of Firestone.[19][20][21]
Josie Carey and Rogers filming an Attic scene inThe Children's Corner. Over Carey's shoulder is Daniel S. (Striped) Tiger, and to the right of Rogers is King Friday XIII.
In 1953, Rogers returned to Pittsburgh to work as a program developer atpublic television stationWQED.Josie Carey worked with him to develop the children's showThe Children's Corner, which Carey hosted. Rogers worked off-camera to develop puppets, characters, and music for the show. He used many puppet characters developed during this time, such as Daniel the Striped Tiger (named after WQED's station manager, Dorothy Daniel, who gave Rogers a tiger puppet before the show's premiere),[22] King Friday XIII, Queen Sara Saturday (named after Rogers' wife),[23] X the Owl, Henrietta, and Lady Elaine, in his later work.[24][25] Children's television entertainerErnie Coombs was an assistant puppeteer.[26]The Children's Corner won aSylvania Award for best locally produced children's programming in 1955 and was broadcast nationally on NBC.[27][28][29] While working on the show, Rogers attended Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1963. He also attended theUniversity of Pittsburgh's Graduate School of Child Development,[29][30] where he began working with child psychologistMargaret McFarland—who, according to Rogers' biographer Maxwell King, became his "key advisor and collaborator" and "child-education guru".[31] Much of Rogers' "thinking about and appreciation for children was shaped and informed" by McFarland.[30] She was his consultant for most ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood's scripts and songs for 30 years.[31]
Rogers in 1988, with his signature red sweater
In 1963, theCanadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) in Toronto contracted Rogers to come to Toronto to develop and host the 15-minute black-and-white children's programMisterogers; it lasted from 1963 to 1967.[26][32] It was the first time Rogers appeared on camera. CBC's children's programming head Fred Rainsberry insisted on it, telling Rogers, "Fred, I've seen you talk with kids. Let's put you yourself on the air".[33] Coombs joined Rogers in Toronto as an assistant puppeteer.[26] Rogers also worked with Coombs on the children's showButternut Square from 1964 to 1967. Rogers acquired the rights toMisterogers in 1967 and returned to Pittsburgh with his wife, two young sons, and the sets he developed, despite a potentially promising career with CBC and no job prospects in Pittsburgh.[34][35] On Rogers' recommendation, Coombs remained in Toronto and became Rogers' Canadian equivalent of an iconic television personality, creating the children's programMr. Dressup, which ran from 1967 to 1996.[36] Rogers' work for CBC "helped shape and develop the concept and style of his later program for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the U.S."[37]
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (also called theNeighborhood), a half-hour educational children's program starring Rogers, began airing nationally in 1968 and ran for 895 episodes.[39] It was videotaped at WQED in Pittsburgh and broadcast byNational Educational Television (NET), which later became thePublic Broadcasting Service (PBS).[40][41] Its first season had 180 black-and-white episodes. Each subsequent season, filmed in color and funded by PBS, theSears-Roebuck Foundation, and other charities, consisted of 65 episodes.[42][43] By the time it ended production in December 2000, its average rating was about 0.7% of television households or 680,000 homes, and it aired on 384 PBS stations. At its peak in 1985–1986, its ratings were 2.1%, or 1.8 million homes.[44][45] The last original episode aired in 2001, but PBS continued to air reruns, and by 2016 it was the third-longest-running program in PBS history.[43][46]
Many of the sets and props inMister Rogers' Neighborhood, like the trolley, the sneakers, and the castle, were created for Rogers' show in Toronto by CBC designers and producers. The program also "incorporated most of the highly imaginative elements that later became famous",[47] such as its slow pace and its host's quiet manner.[47][48] The format ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood "remained virtually unchanged" for the entire run of the program.[49] Every episode begins with a camera's-eye view of a model of a neighborhood, then panning in closer to a representation of a house while a piano instrumental of the theme song, "Won't You be My Neighbor?", performed by music directorJohnny Costa and inspired by a Beethoven sonata, is played.[50] The camera zooms in to a model representing Mr. Rogers' house, then cuts to the house's interior and pans across the room to the front door, which Rogers opens as he sings the theme song to greet his visitors while changing his suit jacket to a cardigan (knitted by his mother)[51] and his dress shoes to sneakers, "complete with a shoe tossed from one hand to another".[52] The episode's theme is introduced, and Mr. Rogers leaves his home to visit another location, the camera panning back to the neighborhood model and zooming in to the new location as he enters it. Once this segment ends, Mr. Rogers leaves and returns to his home, indicating that it is time to visit the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. Mr. Rogers proceeds to the window seat by the trolley track and sets up the action there as the Trolley comes out. The camera follows it down a tunnel in the back wall of the house as it enters the Neighborhood of Make-Believe. The stories and lessons take place over a week's worth of episodes and involve puppets and human characters. The end of the visit occurs when the Trolley returns to the same tunnel from which it emerged, reappearing in Mr. Rogers' home. He then talks to the viewers before concluding the episode. He often feeds his fish, cleans up any props he has used, and returns to the front room, where he sings the closing song while changing back into his dress shoes and jacket. He exits the front door as he ends the song, and the camera zooms out of his home and pans across the neighborhood model as the episode ends.[note 2]
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood emphasized young children's social and emotional needs, and unlike another PBS show,Sesame Street, which premiered in 1969, did not focus on cognitive learning.[53] Writer Kathy Merlock Jackson said, "While both shows target the same preschool audience and prepare children for kindergarten,Sesame Street concentrates on school-readiness skills whileMister Rogers Neighborhood focuses on the child's developing psyche and feelings and sense of moral and ethical reasoning".[54] TheNeighborhood also spent fewer resources on research thanSesame Street, but Rogers used early childhood education concepts taught by his mentor Margaret McFarland,Benjamin Spock,Erik Erikson, andT. Berry Brazelton in his lessons.[55] AsThe Washington Post noted, Rogers taught young children about civility, tolerance, sharing, and self-worth "in a reassuring tone and leisurely cadence".[56] He tackled difficult topics such as the death of a family pet, sibling rivalry, the addition of a newborn into a family, moving and enrolling in a new school, and divorce.[56] For example, he wrote a special segment that dealt with theassassination of Robert F. Kennedy that aired on June 7, 1968, two days after the assassination occurred.[57]
Rogers in 1968
According to King, the process of putting each episode ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood together was "painstaking"[58] and Rogers' contribution to the program was "astounding". Rogers wrote and edited all the episodes, played the piano and sang for most of the songs, wrote 200 songs and 13 operas, created all the characters (both puppet and human), played most of the significant puppet roles, hosted every episode, and produced and approved every detail of the program.[59] The puppets created for the Neighborhood of Make-Believe "included an extraordinary variety of personalities".[60] They were simple puppets but "complex, complicated, and utterly honest beings".[61] In 1971, Rogers formed Family Communications, Inc. (FCI, nowFred Rogers Productions), to produce theNeighborhood, other programs, and non-broadcast materials.[37][62]
In 1975, Rogers stopped producingMr. Rogers' Neighborhood to focus on adult programming. Reruns of theNeighborhood continued to air on PBS.[63] King reports that the decision caught many of his coworkers and supporters "off guard".[64] Rogers continued to confer with McFarland about child development and early childhood education, however.[65] In 1979, after an almost five-year hiatus, Rogers returned to producing theNeighborhood; King calls the new version "stronger and more sophisticated than ever".[66] King writes that by the program's second run in the 1980s, it was "such a cultural touchstone that it had inspired numerous parodies",[17] most notablyEddie Murphy's parody onSaturday Night Live in the early 1980s.[17]
Rogers retired from producing theNeighborhood in 2001 at age 73, although reruns continued to air. He and FCI had been making about two or three weeks of new programs per year for many years, "filling the rest of his time slots from a library of about 300 shows made since 1979".[45] The final original episode ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood aired on August 31, 2001.[67]
In 1969,Rogers testified before theU.S. Senate Subcommittee on Communications, which was chaired by Democratic SenatorJohn Pastore of Rhode Island. U.S. PresidentLyndon Johnson had proposed a $20 million bill for the creation of PBS before he left office, but his successor,Richard Nixon, wanted to cut the funding to $10 million.[68] Even though Rogers was not yet nationally known, he was chosen to testify because of his ability to make persuasive arguments and to connect emotionally with his audience. The clip of Rogers' testimony, which was televised and has since been viewed by millions of people on the internet, helped to secure funding for PBS for many years afterward.[69][70] According to King, Rogers' testimony was "considered one of the most powerful pieces of testimony ever offered before Congress, and one of the most powerful pieces of video presentation ever filmed".[71] It brought Pastore to tears and, according to King, has been studied by public relations experts and academics.[71] Congressional funding for PBS increased from $9 million to $22 million.[68] In 1970, Nixon appointed Rogers as chair of theWhite House Conference on Children and Youth.[72]
In September 1987, Rogers visited Moscow to appear as the first guest on the long-running Soviet children's TV showGood Night, Little Ones! with hostTatyana Vedeneyeva.[76] The appearance was broadcast in the Soviet Union on December 7, coinciding with theWashington Summit meeting between Soviet leaderMikhail Gorbachev and U.S. PresidentRonald Reagan in Washington, D.C.[77] Vedeneyeva visited the set ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood in November. Her visit was taped and later aired in March 1988 as part of Rogers' program.[78] In 1994, Rogers wrote, produced, and hosted a special for PBS calledFred Rogers' Heroes, which featured interviews and portraits of four people from across the country who were having a positive impact on children and education.[79][80] The first time Rogers appeared on television as an actor, and not as himself, was in a 1996 episode ofDr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, playing a preacher.[5]
Rogers gave "scores of interviews".[81] Though reluctant to appear on television talk shows, he would usually "charm the host with his quick wit and ability to ad-lib on a moment's notice".[82] Rogers was "one of the country's most sought-after commencement speakers",[83] making over 150 speeches.[81] His friend and colleague David Newell reported that Rogers would "agonize over a speech",[84] and King reported that Rogers was at his least guarded during his speeches, which were about children, television, education, his view of the world, how to make the world a better place, and his quest for self-knowledge. His tone was quiet and informal but "commanded attention".[81] In many speeches, including the ones he made accepting aLifetime Achievement Emmy in 1997,[85] for his induction into the Television Hall of Fame in 1999,[83] and his final commencement speech at Dartmouth College in 2002, he instructed his audiences to remain silent and think for a moment about someone who had a good influence on them.[86]
Rogers metSara Joanne Byrd (called "Joanne") fromJacksonville, Florida, while attending Rollins College. They were married from 1952 until he died in 2003. They had two sons, James and John.[87][88] Joanne was an accomplished pianist,[89] who, like Fred, earned a Bachelor of Music from Rollins, and went on to earn a Master of Music fromFlorida State University. She performed publicly with her college classmate, Jeannine Morrison, from 1976 to 2008.[89][90] According to biographer Maxwell King, Rogers' close associates said he was "absolutely faithful to his marriage vows".[91][92]
Rogers was red-greencolor-blind.[85][93] He became apescatarian in 1970, after the death of his father, and a vegetarian in the early 1980s,[94] saying he "couldn't eat anything that had a mother".[95] He became a co-owner ofVegetarian Times in the mid-1980s[95] and said in one issue, "I love tofu burgers and beets".[96] He toldVegetarian Times that he became a vegetarian for both ethical and health reasons.[96] According to his biographer Maxwell King, Rogers also signed his name to a statementprotesting wearing animal furs.[95]
Rogers was a registeredRepublican, but according to Joanne Rogers, he was "very independent in the way he voted", choosing not to talk about politics because he wanted to be impartial.[97]
Rogers was aPresbyterian, and many of the messages he expressed inMister Rogers' Neighborhood were inspired by the core tenets of Christianity. Rogers rarely spoke about his faith on air; he believed that teaching through example was as powerful as preaching. He said, "You don't need to speak overtly about religion in order to get a message across". According to writer Shea Tuttle, Rogers considered his faith a fundamental part of his personality and "called the space between the viewer and the television set 'holy ground'". He also studiedCatholic mysticism,Judaism,Buddhism, and other faiths and cultures.[95][98] King called him "that unique television star with a real spiritual life",[98] emphasizing the values of patience, reflection, and "silence in a noisy world".[95]
King reported that despite Rogers' family's wealth, he cared little about making money, and lived frugally, especially as he and his wife grew older.[99][100] King reported that Rogers' relationship with his young audience was important to him. For example, since hostingMisterogers in Canada, he answered every letter sent to him by hand. AfterMister Rogers' Neighborhood began airing in the U.S., the letters increased in volume, and he hired staff member and producer Hedda Sharapan to answer them, but he read, edited, and signed each one. King wrote that Rogers saw responding to his viewers' letters as "a pastoral duty of sorts".[101]
The New York Times called Rogers "a dedicated lap-swimmer",[83] andTom Junod, author of "Can You Say... Hero?", the 1998Esquire profile of Rogers, said, "Nearly every morning of his life, Mister Rogers has gone swimming".[85] Rogers began swimming when he was a child at his family's vacation home outside Latrobe, where they owned a pool, and during their winter trips to Florida. King wrote that swimming and playing the piano were "lifelong passions" and that "both gave him a chance to feel capable and in charge of his destiny",[102] and that swimming became "an important part of the strong sense of self-discipline he cultivated". Rogers swam daily at thePittsburgh Athletic Association, after waking every morning between 4:30 and 5:30 A.M. to pray and to "read the Bible and prepare himself for the day".[103] He did not smoke or drink.[83] According to Junod, he did nothing to change his weight from the 143 pounds (65 kg) he weighed for most of his adult life; by 1998, this also included napping daily, going to bed at 9:30 P.M., and sleeping eight hours per night without interruption. Junod said Rogers saw his weight "as a destiny fulfilled", telling Junod, "the number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four letters to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you'".[85]
Through an ancestor who emigrated from Germany to the U.S., Johannes Meffert (born 1732), Rogers is the sixth cousin of actorTom Hanks, who portrays him in the filmA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (2019).[104]
Sexuality
According to biographer Michael Long in a 2014HuffPost essay, Rogers' sexuality had long been a topic of curiosity due to his lack of traditionalmachismo.[105][106] The 2018 documentaryWon't You Be My Neighbor? featured an interview withFrançois Clemmons, the gay actor who played Officer Clemmons onMister Rogers' Neighborhood, in which he denied that Rogers was gay or that he had ever gotten a "gay vibe" from him.[105] According to the 2015 biographyThe Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers by Maxwell King, Rogers once told openly gay friend Dr. William Hirsch that he "must be right smack in the middle" of a sexuality scale because "I have found women attractive, and I have found men attractive."[105][107] This excerpt resurfaced in 2019 and led many social media users to celebrate him asbisexual, though there is no record of him identifying as such during his lifetime.[105][107]
Death and memorials
After Rogers' retirement in 2001, he remained busy working with FCI, studying religion and spirituality, making public appearances, traveling, and working on a children's media center named after him atSaint Vincent College in Latrobe with ArchabbotDouglas Nowicki, chancellor of the college.[108] By the summer of 2002, his chronic stomach pain became severe enough for him to see a doctor about it, and in October 2002, he was diagnosed with stomach cancer.[109] He delayed treatment until after he served as Grand Marshal of the 2003Rose Parade, withArt Linkletter andBill Cosby, in January.[110] On January 6, Rogers underwent stomach surgery. He died less than two months later at his Pittsburgh home on February 27, 2003, at the age of 74,[111][112] with his wife of 50 years, Joanne, at his side. While comatose shortly before his death, he received thelast rites of the Catholic Church fromArchabbot Nowicki.[5][112][113][114]
The following day, thePittsburgh Post-Gazette covered Rogers' death on the front page and dedicated an entire section to his death and impact.[112] The newspaper also reported that by noon, the internet "was already full of appreciative pieces" by parents, viewers, producers, and writers.[115] Rogers' death was widely lamented. Most U.S. metropolitan newspapers ran his obituary on their front page and some dedicated entire sections to coverage of his death.[116] WQED aired programs about Rogers the evening he died; thePost-Gazette reported that the ratings for their coverage were three times higher than their normal ratings.[116] That same evening,Nightline onABC broadcast a rerun of a recent interview with Rogers; the program got the highest ratings of the day, beating the February average ratings ofLate Show with David Letterman andThe Tonight Show with Jay Leno.[116] On March 4, theU.S. House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution honoring Rogers sponsored by RepresentativeMike Doyle from Pennsylvania.[117]
On March 1, 2003, a private funeral was held for Rogers in Unity Chapel, which was restored by Rogers' father, at Unity Cemetery in Latrobe. About 80 relatives, co-workers, and close friends attended the service, which "was planned in great secrecy so that those closest to him could grieve in private".[118] Reverend John McCall, pastor of the Rogers family's church, Sixth Presbyterian Church inSquirrel Hill, gave thehomily; Reverend William Barker, a retired Presbyterian minister who was a "close friend of Mr. Rogers and the voice of Mr. Platypus on his show",[118] read Rogers' favorite Bible passages. Rogers was interred at Unity Cemetery in his hometown of Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in amausoleum owned by his mother's family.[118]
On May 3, 2003, a public memorial was held atHeinz Hall in Pittsburgh. According to thePost-Gazette, 2,700 people attended. ViolinistItzhak Perlman, cellistYo-Yo Ma (via video), and organistAlan Morrison performed in honor of Rogers. Barker officiated the service; also in attendance were Pittsburgh philanthropistElsie Hillman, formerGood Morning America hostDavid Hartman,The Very Hungry Caterpillar authorEric Carle, andArthur creatorMarc Brown. Businesswoman and philanthropistTeresa Heinz, PBS PresidentPat Mitchell, and executive director of The Pittsburgh Project Saleem Ghubril gave remarks.[119]Jeff Erlanger, who at age 10 appeared onMister Rogers' Neighborhood in 1981 to explain his electric wheelchair, also spoke.[120] The memorial was broadcast several times on Pittsburgh television stations and websites throughout the day.[121]
Statue of Rogers, Pittsburgh 2023.
Legacy
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, "Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping." To this day, especially in times of "disaster", I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers—so many caring people in this world. —Fred Rogers[122]
Whenever a great tragedy strikes—war, famine, mass shootings, or even an outbreak of populist rage—millions of people turn to Fred's messages about life. Then the web is filled with his words and images. With fascinating frequency, his written messages and video clips surge across the internet, reaching hundreds of thousands of people who, confronted with a tough issue or ominous development, open themselves to Rogers' messages of quiet contemplation, of simplicity, ofactive listening and the practice of human kindness. —Rogers biographer Maxwell King[123]
Marc Brown, creator of another PBS children's show,Arthur, considered Rogers both a friend and "a terrific role model for how to use television and the media to be helpful to kids and families".[124]Josh Selig, creator ofWonder Pets, credits Rogers with influencing his use of structure and predictability, and his use of music, opera, and originality.[125]
Rogers inspiredAngela Santomero, co-creator of the children's television showBlue's Clues, to earn a degree in developmental psychology and go into educational television.[126] She and the other producers ofBlue's Clues used many of Rogers' techniques, such as using child developmental and educational research and having the host speak directly to the camera and transition to a make-believe world.[127] In 2006, three years after Rogers' death and the end of production ofBlue's Clues, the Fred Rogers Company contacted Santomero to create a show that would promote Rogers' legacy.[126] In 2012,Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood, with characters from and based uponMister Rogers' Neighborhood, premiered on PBS.[128]
Rogers' style and approach to children's television and early childhood education also "begged to be parodied".[129] Comedian Eddie Murphy parodiedMister Rogers' Neighborhood onSaturday Night Live during the 1980s.[17][130] Rogers told interviewerDavid Letterman in 1982 that he believed parodies like Murphy's were done "with kindness in their hearts".[131]
A roadside Pennsylvania Historical Marker dedicated to Rogers to be installed in Latrobe was approved[135] by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission on March 4, 2014.[136] It was installed on June 11, 2016, with the title "Fred McFeely Rogers (1928–2003)".[137]
Won't You Be My Neighbor? director Morgan Neville's 2018 documentary about Rogers' life, grossed over $22 million and became the top-grossing biographical documentary ever produced, the highest-grossing documentary in five years, and the twelfth-largest-grossing documentary ever made.[138][139] The 2019 drama filmA Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood tells the story of Rogers and his television series, with Tom Hanks portraying Rogers.
According to Caitlin Gibson ofThe Washington Post, Rogers became a source for parenting advice; she called him "a timeless oracle against a backdrop of ever-shifting parenting philosophies and cultural trends".[138] Robert Thompson ofSyracuse University noted that Rogers "took American childhood—and I think Americans in general—through some very turbulent and trying times",[130] from theVietnam War and the assassination of Robert Kennedy in 1968 to the9/11 attacks in 2001. According to Asia Simone Burns ofNational Public Radio, in the years following the end of production onMister Rogers' Neighborhood in 2001 and his death in 2003, Rogers became "a source of comfort, sometimes in the wake of tragedy".[130] Burns has said Rogers' words of comfort "began circulating on social media"[130] following tragedies such as theSandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012, theManchester Arena bombing in Manchester, England, in 2017, and theStoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018.
Given by the Pennsylvania Society, which recognizes Pennsylvanians who made significant contributions to the Commonwealth. The Society donated $25,000 to the McFarland Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation (named after Margaret McFarland) in Rogers' honor.
Part of theNational Hockey League (NHL)'s 75th anniversary. Rogers was one of 12 celebrity captains to be selected for the 1992Pro Set Platinum collection.
Given byColgate Rochester Divinity School. Rogers spoke at the commencement of the school's Bexley–Hall–Crozer Theological Seminary on the date of receipt. The award is the school's equivalent of an honorary degree.
Presented by the Vocational Rehabilitation Center board of directors in Pittsburgh. The award is given to a person who made major improvements to the quality of life of the disabled.
Awarded "for giving generation upon generation of children confidence in themselves, for being their friend, for telling them again and again and again that they are special and that they have worth."[166]
Tribute to Rogers on what would have been his 80th birthday (March 20) by FCI. People worldwide were encouraged to wear a sweater honoring Rogers' legacy and the final event in a six-day celebration in Pittsburgh.
Rogers honored by theAltoona Curve, aDouble-A affiliate of thePittsburgh Pirates. The team wore commemorative jerseys that featured a printed facsimile of Rogers' cardigan and tie ensemble, which were then auctioned off, with the proceeds going to the local PBS station,WPSU-TV.
In honor of the 51st anniversary of the premiere ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood (September 21). Created in collaboration with Fred Rogers Productions, The Fred Rogers Center, and BixPix Entertainment.
Hand-made sweater worn by Rogers, on display in theSmithsonian Institution's Museum of American History. Fred Rogers' mother, Nancy Rogers, knitted all the sweaters he wore on the program.
Children's Museum of Pittsburgh. Exhibit created by Rogers and FCI in 1998. It attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors over ten years. It included, fromMister Rogers' Neighborhood, one of his sweaters, a pair of his sneakers, original puppets from the program, and photographs of Rogers. The exhibit traveled to children's museums throughout the country for eight years until it was given to the Louisiana Children's Museum in New Orleans as a permanent exhibit to help them recover fromHurricane Katrina in 2005. In 2007, the Children's Museum of Pittsburgh created a traveling exhibit based on the factory tours featured in episodes ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood.[192][193][194]
Heinz History Center permanent collection (2018). In honor of the 50th anniversary ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood and what would have been Rogers' 90th birthday.[195] Exhibits include the iconicKing Friday's blue castle, theOwl's tree and a tricycle ridden by courierMr. McFeely.[196]
Louisiana Children's Museum. The museum contains an exhibit ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood, which debuted in 2007. The Children's Museum of Pittsburgh donated the exhibit.[192]
Fred Rogers Exhibit. The Exhibit displays the life, career, and legacy of Rogers and includes photos, artifacts fromMister Rogers' Neighborhood and clips of the program and interviews featuring Rogers. It is located at the Fred Rogers Center.[197]
Art pieces
Several pieces of art are dedicated to Rogers throughout Pittsburgh, including an eleven-foot (3.4 m) tall, 7,000-pound (3,200 kg) bronze statue of him in the North Shore neighborhood. In theOakland neighborhood, his portrait is included in theMartin Luther King Jr. and "Interpretations of Oakland" murals. A dinosaur statue titled "Fredasaurus Rex Friday XIII" originally stood in front of the WQED building and, as of 2014, stood in front of the building containing the Fred Rogers Company offices. There is a "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe" inIdlewild Park and a kiosk ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood artifacts atPittsburgh International Airport.[198] The Carnegie Science Center's Miniature Railroad and Village debuted a miniature recreation of Rogers' house fromMister Rogers' Neighborhood in 2005.[199] In Rogers' hometown of Latrobe, a statue of Rogers on a bench is situated in James H. Rogers Park—a park named for Rogers' father.[200] In 2021,A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood—a seven-foot (2.1 m) tall, 3,000-pound (1,400 kg) bronze statue byPaul Day—was dedicated at Rollins College. The memorial depicts Rogers and Daniel Tiger speaking with a group of children and features lyrics fromMister Rogers' Neighborhood's theme on the base.[201]
Rogers has received honorary degrees from over 43 colleges and universities. After 1973, two commemorative quilts, created by two of Rogers' friends and archived at the Fred Rogers Center at St. Vincent College in Latrobe, were made out of the academic hoods he received during the graduation ceremonies.[202][203]
Note: Much of the below list is taken from "Honorary Degrees Awarded to Fred Rogers",[145] unless otherwise stated.
^According toMister Rogers' Neighborhood producer Hedda Sharapan, Rogers used television to communicate his message;[17]David Newell, who played Mr. McFeely on theNeighborhood, said, "Television was a vehicle for Fred, to reach children and families; it was sort of a necessary evil".[18]
^See Wolfe, pp. 9–16, for a complete description of the structure ofMister Rogers' Neighborhood.
^Herman, Karen (October 22, 2017)."Fred Rogers: On his college years".Television Academy Interviews. Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.Archived from the original on October 13, 2020. RetrievedNovember 23, 2019.
^"Fred Rogers".Pioneers of Television. PBS.org. 2014.Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. RetrievedJanuary 22, 2019.
^"Early Years in Television".Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning & Children's Media.Archived from the original on December 14, 2019. RetrievedNovember 1, 2018.
^Roberts, Soraya (June 26, 2018)."The Fred Rogers We Know".Hazlitt Magazine. Penguin Random House.Archived from the original on January 5, 2022. RetrievedOctober 28, 2018.
^abcdMatheson, Sue (2016). "Good Neighbors, Moral Philosophy and the Masculine Ideal". In Merlock Jackson, Sandra; Emmanuel, Steven M. (eds.).Revisiting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Essays on Lessons about Self and Community. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Publishers. p. 25.ISBN978-1-4766-2341-2.
^Jackson, Kathy Merlock; Emmanuel, Steven M (2016). "Introduction".Revisiting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Essays on Lessons about Self and Community. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 1.ISBN978-1-4766-2341-2.
^Jackson, Kathy Merlock (February 17, 2016). "Social Activism for the Small Set". In Jackson, Kathy Merlock; Emmanuel, Steven M. (eds.).Revisiting Mister Rogers' Neighborhood: Essays on Lessons about Self and Community. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Publishers. p. 11.ISBN978-1-4766-2341-2.
^Rick Sebak (host/producer) (October 19, 1987).My Interview with Fred (video clip). WQED. Archived fromthe original on October 29, 2021. RetrievedDecember 7, 2019 – via YouTube.
^De Vinck, Christopher (February 24, 2013)."My friend, Mr. Rogers".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.Archived from the original on January 6, 2022. RetrievedJuly 5, 2019.
^abcOwen, Rob; Vancheri, Barbara (February 28, 2003)."Fred Rogers dies at 74".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Archived fromthe original on January 6, 2022. RetrievedJuly 5, 2019.
^Guerrero, Melissa (January 30, 2019)."Mister Rogers's Surprising Ties with Catholicism".EpicPew.com. RetrievedSeptember 1, 2025.Although Mr. Rogers remained a Presbyterian throughout his entire life, his wife allowed Archabbot Nowicki (with whom he'd traveled to Mexico to visit orphanages) to administer the Last Rites to him.
^"State Marker in Latrobe to Honor Mr. Rogers".Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media at Saint Vincent College. Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children's Media. March 5, 2014.Archived from the original on June 2, 2020. RetrievedJune 2, 2020.
^"Commencement Highlights".Immaculata University. Immaculata News. November 24, 2019.Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. RetrievedApril 11, 2020.
^"Vector awards".The Pittsburgh Press. Vol. 106, no. 165. December 7, 1989.Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. RetrievedMay 31, 2020.
^"Can you say…captain?".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Vol. 65, no. 58. October 7, 1991. p. 1.Archived from the original on March 10, 2021. RetrievedJuly 22, 2019.
^Fetters, Elizabeth Rusch, ed. (Spring 2018)."Mr. Rogers Golden Anniversary"(PDF).The Wheel: Educational Journal of Delta Omicron.108 (1): 28.Archived(PDF) from the original on September 19, 2020. RetrievedJuly 21, 2019.
^"Fred Mister Rogers".Hollywood Walk of Fame. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. October 25, 2019.Archived from the original on April 12, 2020. RetrievedApril 12, 2020.
^"The Buzz – Recognition".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Vol. 74, no. 208. February 24, 2001.Archived from the original on November 24, 2020. RetrievedMay 31, 2020.
^Humphreys, Rob (May 28, 2021)."Crafting an Icon".Rollins College.Archived from the original on May 1, 2023. RetrievedAugust 15, 2024.How renowned British sculptor Paul Day created a Rollins monument to the College's most famous alum.
^"Mr. Rogers in the neighborhood".NewspaperArchive.com. Jacksonville Journal Courier. May 19, 1986. p. 14.Archived from the original on April 11, 2020. RetrievedApril 11, 2020.
^"Dr. Rogers".Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Vol. 60, no. 261. PG Publishing Co. June 1, 1987.Archived from the original on September 19, 2020. RetrievedMay 31, 2020.
^"BU Yesterday".B.U. Bridge. Vol. 5, no. 5. Boston University Office of University Relations. September 14, 2001.Archived from the original on March 8, 2021. RetrievedJuly 17, 2019.
^"1996 Spring Commencement"(PDF).NC State University Libraries. North Carolina State University. May 11, 1996. p. 6.Archived(PDF) from the original on April 11, 2020. RetrievedApril 11, 2020.
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