Mark Ritts (June 16, 1946 – December 7, 2009) was an American actor,

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

, television producer and director, and author. Ritts also produced and directed many independent videos and television spots as president of Mark Ritts Productions, Inc., for clients around the world.

Biography

Ritts was born in

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...

. He graduated from

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...

with a degree in English literature. Being the son of noted puppeteers Paul and Mary Ritts, he pursued a sideline in puppetry, starring in PBS's ''The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson'' and NBC's ''

The Pink Panther Show ''The Pink Panther Show'' is a showcase of animated shorts produced by David H. DePatie and Friz Freleng between 1969 and 1978, starring the animated Pink Panther character from the opening credits of the live-action films. The series was pr ...

'', among many others. In the 1980s he was the puppeteer for the Philadelphia-area produced '' Starstuff.'' Throughout the 1990s, Ritts was the voice and performer of Kino, the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winning puppet co-host of the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

series '' Storytime'', as well as one of the show's writers. From 1992 to 1998, he participated on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

's ''

Beakman's World ''Beakman's World'' is an American educational children's television program. The program is based on the Universal Press Syndicate syndicated comic strip '' You Can with Beakman and Jax'' created by Jok Church. The series premiered on Wednesday, ...

''. In it, Ritts starred as Lester, a disgruntled actor (with a bad agent) in a rat suit who reluctantly helps Beakman with his experiments and trades barbs with Josie, Liza and Phoebe. The character was originally conceived as a puppet character, but at the last minute, the show's producers decided he would be a costumed actor. Ritts also operated the Herb penguin puppet, with the voice provided by Alan Barzman. The program has been televised in nearly 90 countries around the world, and is seen in syndication throughout the United States. After moving to California from the East Coast in 1994, Mark wrote and produced a

Barney the Dinosaur ''Barney & Friends'' is an American children's television series created by Sheryl Leach targeted at children ages two to five. The flagship production of the ''Barney'' franchise, it originally aired on PBS under the PBS Kids brand from April ...

special for

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

, as well as a one-hour documentary on microbiology called ''Creators of the Future'', which debuted in prime time on PBS in 1999. Ritts is also the co-author (with Don Fleming, PhD) of a parenting book entitled ''Mom, I Hate You'', released by Three Rivers/

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

in April 2003. In July 2005, he and co-producer/writer/director

Ted Field Frederick Woodruff "Ted" Field (born June 1, 1953) is an American media mogul, record executive, entrepreneur and film producer. He founded Interscope Communications to develop and produce films in 1982, and produced his first hit, '' Revenge ...

released ''Cast Off for Catalina'', a DVD about visiting and enjoying southern California's Santa Catalina Island aboard your own boat. A second DVD, ''Cast Off for Mexico'', was released in 2007. Ritts provided the voice for the character Gianciotto in the 2007 film ''

Dante's Inferno ''Inferno'' (; Italian for ' Hell') is the first part of Italian writer Dante Alighieri's 14th-century narrative poem '' The Divine Comedy'', followed by and . The ''Inferno'' describes the journey of a fictionalised version of Dante himsel ...

''. He made a major high-definition documentary for Merck & Co. and creative directed an elaborate conference for Carlson Hotels at

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

's Bellagio Resort and Casino. He was also a director of the

Court TV Court TV is an American digital broadcast network and former pay-television channel. It was originally launched in 1991 with a focus on crime-themed programs such as true crime documentary series, legal analysis talk shows, and live news cover ...

series ''North Mission Road''. Ritts died from

kidney cancer Kidney cancer, also known as renal cancer, is a group of cancers that starts in the kidney. Symptoms may include blood in the urine, a lump in the abdomen, or back pain. Fever, weight loss, and tiredness may also occur. Complications can include ...

La Cañada Flintridge, California La Cañada Flintridge, commonly known as just , is a city in the foothills of the Verdugo Mountains in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located in the Crescenta Valley, in the western edge of the San Gabriel Valley, it is the l ...

. He was 63 years old.

Family

He was married to actress and singer

Teresa Parente Teresa Parente is an American actress and singer. Career She is best known for her recurrent role on the Fox Broadcasting Company's sitcom ''Married... with Children'' as hapless television reporter "Miranda Veracruz de la Jolla Cardinal", who ...

and had a daughter. He was previously married to Nina Daniel and they had two sons.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ritts, Mark 1946 births 2009 deaths American puppeteers American male television actors Deaths from kidney cancer in the United States Deaths from cancer in California People from La Cañada Flintridge, California People from West Chester, Pennsylvania Harvard University alumni 20th-century American male actors