Bob McGrath plays “Bob” on Sesame Street, and has since 1969. I grew up listening to him sing “Who are the people in your neighborhood?” and “One of these things is not like the other”.
Today on Sesame Street they had a little kareoke, and characters did some of the songs they’ve done over the years (Big Bird did “ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ”), and Bob did “Who are the people in your neighborhood?”. They called him up, and he jumped up and ran up there and bounced around a little bit, and I thought “He’s been doing this a long time, how old is he?”. According to IMDb, he’s 70. 70! He looks amazing for 70. A strong clear voice, and spry movements make him look the same age as his compatriots, who seem to have been born in the early 50’s. I was surprised at how little information there is on many of the regulars.
And Mr Hooper was born in 1903. No wonder he died in ’82.
I’ve always been impressed by how many original cast members of Sesame Street are still there. I have to wonder if the current incoming cast are going to be around just as long. Sesame Street has certinaly been an icon of American civilization for a long time, I just can’t imagine ot going away.
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