Legendary Producer Marty Krofft, Co-Creator of 'H.R. Pufnstuf' and 'Land of the Lost,' Dies at 86
An icon of children’s television has passed away aged 86.
Marty Krofft, who co-created children’s television shows including “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost,” died in California on Saturday.
CNN reported the comments of his publicist B. Harlan Boll, who said Krofft was surrounded by family and friends and that the cause of death was kidney failure.
Krofft co-created many of his shows with his brother Sid from the 1960s, with the pair having come from a family of puppeteers.
Their most popular show was “H.R. Pufnstuf,” which told the story of a young boy and his relationship with a talking dragon named H.R. Pufnstuf who he befriends after being stranded on a magical island.
The show, which premiered in 1969, was celebrated for its imaginative set design, puppetry, and catchy theme song.
“Its success spawned a feature film, produced with Universal Pictures as a partner and distributor,” his representative wrote.
Their next great success was “Land of the Lost,” which premiered in 1974.
The show’s plot involved a family transported into another dimension ruled by dinosaurs, primates and lizard creatures and their attempts to get back to reality.
In the 1980s, the brothers collaborated on “D.C. Follies,” which ran for two seasons from 1987 to 1989.
The show featured life-size puppets portraying celebrities and politicians such as Mike Tyson, Richard Nixon and Arnold Schwarzenegger and earned praise for its satire of prominent cultural figures.
Their shows were often trippy and psychedelic in nature, introducing different colors and concepts to young impressionable audiences.
“We screwed with every kid’s mind,” Marty Krofft once in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “There’s a Krofft look — the colors. There’s an edge. Disney doesn’t have an edge.”
Some of their other popular shows included “Donny & Marie,” “The Brady Bunch Hour,” and “Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.”
Marty Krofft was born in 1937 and was the youngest of four brothers. By the time he was born, his brother was already touring as a puppeteer, with Marty soon following in his footsteps.
In 2018, the two brothers were awarded the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, as well as a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2020.
Sid Krofft took to Instagram to pay tribute to his late brother.
“I’m heartbroken over the loss of my baby brother,” he wrote. “I really know that all of you meant the world to him. It’s YOU that made this all happen. Thank you for being there with us all these years. Love, Sid.”
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Among his surviving relatives include Sid and his brother Harry, his daughters Deanna Krofft-Pope, Kristina, and Kendra Krofft, five grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
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