Marty Krofft, who, along with his brother Sid, created a series of television shows that captivated audiences from Saturday morning through prime time, including fantastic children’s shows like HR Pufnstuf and Land of the Lost, as well as variety shows like Donny and Marie Died on Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 86.
His publicist Harlan Boll said the cause was kidney failure.
The Kroffts said they came from a family of puppeteers, and Sid, who traveled the world performing elaborate puppet shows as a child, was usually the creative force behind the partnership.
But Krofft shows, which featured extravagant puppets and sets, were often expensive to produce and sometimes had spaces that were difficult to sell; For example, one show focused on magical, talking hats. Marty’s business acumen and ability to woo studio executives ensured that some of the strangest programs ever to hit the small screen were actually produced.
“Sid was always ‘the artist,'” Marty was quoted as saying in Pufnstuf & Other Stuff: The Weird and Wonderful World of Sid & Marty Krofft (1998) by critic David Martindale. “He never had any business sense. So I came in and filled that vacuum.”
The shows often had psychedelic sets and a trippy atmosphere, which led many older viewers to read drug references in them. The Kroffts said that was never their intention.
The first Krofft television show to air on NBC in 1969 was “HR Pufnstuf,” which was about a boy who is kidnapped to a magical island by a witch who wants to steal his talking flute. On the island, the boy meets HR Pufnstuf, the dragon mayor of a city where virtually all animals and objects can speak. Pufnstuf and the islanders try to help the boy get home despite the machinations of the witch and her goofy minions.
Only 17 episodes were made, but they aired in reruns for years, over time inspiring a TV movie, an ice show and extensive children’s merchandise.
“He’s our Mickey Mouse,” Mr. Krofft said of Pufnstuf.
The success of “Pufnstuf” also proved to the studios that crazy Krofft programs can attract viewers.
The Kroffts then produced “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” about a tentacled blob of seaweed who befriends humans; “The Bugaloos,” about a rock group made up of teenage insects; and “Lidsville” about the hats.
These shows were all light-hearted fantasy. The next show the Kroffts produced, “Land of the Lost,” was more serious.
In “Lost,” which premiered on NBC in 1974, a family enters an alternate dimension populated by dinosaurs, primates called Pakuni and dangerous lizard people called Sleestaks. Like “Pufnstuf,” the series was about the family’s attempts to get home while finding their way in their strange new surroundings.
The episodes were written by veteran science fiction writers such as Ben Bova, Larry Niven and Norman Spinrad, and a linguist developed a type of language for the Pakuni.
The Kroffts continued to produce new episodes of “Lost” until 1977, while also filming several other children’s programs that featured, among others, actors Bob Denver (“Far Out Space Nuts”), Ruth Buzzi and Jim Nabors (both in “The Lost”) on Saucer “).
In prime time, they also launched the popular variety show “Donny & Marie,” which starred two siblings from the singing Osmond family. It first aired in 1976 on ABC with guest appearances by Farrah Fawcett, Vincent Price and Lee Majors.
New episodes of “Donny and Marie” were produced for four years. But later prime-time Krofft productions had much shorter runs, such as “The Brady Bunch Hour” (1976), which featured much of the sitcom’s cast singing and dancing. As a series it lasted eight episodes.
“It was like a freak show,” said Susan Olsen, who played Cindy Brady.
Marty Krofft was born in Montreal on April 9, 1937, the youngest of four brothers to Peter and Mary (Yolas) Krofft. Sid, who had learned puppetry from his father, was already touring professionally by the time Marty could walk.
The brothers officially became partners in 1959, and the next year they launched their signature production, “Les Poupées de Paris,” a daring extravaganza that initially required 12 puppeteers to play 240 marionettes.
Les Poupees ran alongside the New York World’s Fair in 1964 and 1965 and traveled to Australia and Japan before closing in 1967. It also caught the attention of Angus Wynne, who owned the Six Flags amusement park chain; He asked the Kroffts to create a puppet theater for his parks.
The Kroffts went on to design puppets, costumes and props for clients such as the Jackson 5, the Ringling Brothers Circus and the Ice Capades, working for a time out of a former airplane hangar in Southern California. Years later, they briefly opened their own theme park, The World of Sid and Marty Krofft, at the Omni Hotel in Atlanta.
Many Krofft programs initially ran briefly but resurfaced decades later, first as reruns on channels like Nick at Nite and as streaming options for nostalgic Gen-Xers. For example, a feature film “Land of the Lost” starring Will Ferrell, Danny McBride and Anna Friel was released in 2009; and in 2017, Amazon rebooted “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters” starring Rebecca Bloom and David Arquette.
Mr. Krofft’s wife, former Playboy Playmate Christa Speck, died in 2013. He lived in Los Angeles and is survived by his brothers Sid and Harry; his daughters, Deanna Krofft-Pope, Kristina Krofft and Kendra Krofft; five grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.
Mr. Krofft’s daughters continued the family business under the leadership of their father, who continued to work until recently.