Stu Rosen, an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning force in children’s programming
died early Sunday morning after a battle with cancer. He was 80.
“This
is a very sad day for my family and I. My wonderful, colorful, fantastic
cousin, Stu Rosen died this morning,” wrote Rosen’s cousin Donna Siegel on Facebook.
“My heart is broken and I’m sure anyone who has ever met him feels the same
way. What a character he was.”
She
continued, “He is the one I wrote about a few months ago that I gave a birthday
party for….but it was really a going away party because he was dying of cancer.
I told you all that it was the best party I have ever given.”
Rosen’s
was into the industry was as a production assistant at KCET before creating and
serving as the co-executive producer of the children’s television program Dusty’s
Treehouse. Rosen starred as the titular Dusty in the series that ran from
1970-1980 and featured the puppets of Tony Urbano. Cut from the same cloth of
shows like Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood and Captain Kangaroo, the series
featured animal puppets and covered topics like music, school, politics,
kindness and behavior. Dusty’s Attic, a forerunner of Dusty’s Treehouse
featured future Oscar winners Steve Martin and Paul Williams. Dusty’s Treehouse
went on to win eight Emmys and later appeared in reruns on Nickelodeon.
Rosen
served as governor of the children’s TV branch of the Television Academy. On
the directing side, he helmed animated series such as MASK, Hulk Hogan’s Rock
‘n’ Wrestling, The Legend of Prince Valiant, Biker Mice from Mars as well as
the episodes of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in 1987. He also voiced directed
and lent his voice to the iconic Jim Henson series Fraggle Rock.
His credits included an array of popular animated series such as Batman: The
Animated Series, The Pirates of Dark Water, X-Men, Spiderman: The Animated
Series and Superman: The Animated Series. He also directed and voiced Phantom
2040 which included the talents of Margot Kidder, Ron Perlman, Leah Remini,
Mark Hamill, Debbie Harry, Rob Paulsen and Paul Williams. On the live-action
side, he appeared in Rome and The Huntress.
Dusty's Treehouse –
An Anniversary Episode Behind The Scenes Starring Stu Rosen
