Sid Krofft dead: ‘H.R. Pufnstuf,’ ‘Land of the Lost’ co-creator dies
TV producer Sid Krofft, the puppeteer and co-mastermind behind fantastical 1970s Saturday morning television shows like “H.R. Pufnstuf” and “Land of the Lost,” has died. He was 96.
Krofft died in his sleep on Friday at the home of his friend and business partner Kelly Killian, she announced on Instagram. His youngest brother and business partner, Marty Krofft, died in 2023.
“I loved Sid with my whole heart. The last six years of my life were devoted to him, and his to me,” Killian wrote. “In that time, he taught me more than I could ever put into words — about the art of Hollywood, the magic of the stage, and the depth and complexity of human nature. I wish so very much that I had more time with him.”
“Sid Krofft was an icon who did what he loved most until the very end — being out in public with his legions of fans,” his publicist Adam Fenton said in a statement. “Sid never slowed down, attending his final show where it all began just last November in his home state of Rhode Island. Sid was a beacon of light and will be greatly missed.”
Sid co-created 1960s and ’70s children’s TV shows that featured colorful and quirky characters like Weenie the Genie, Horatio J. HooDoo and Cha-Ka the ape-boy. Together, he and Marty produced through their production company, Sid & Marty Krofft Pictures, popular series, including their television debut and cult hit, “H.R. Pufnstuf.”
“H.R. Pufnstuf,” a combination of live-action and puppetry that Sid once referred to as “our first baby,” follows the adventures of a young boy, a talking flute and a 6-foot-tall dragon. That was the start of a television enterprise. The brothers went on to create more (mostly short-lived) shows, including “Lidsville,” about a teenage boy who falls into the top hat of a magician. He finds himself in the titular Lidsville, a land of living hats.
Other shows included “The Bugaloos,” about four teenage musicians with wings and antennae, “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl,” which follows the adventures of a superhero and her sidekick, and “Pryor’s Place,” a live-action children’s show starring comedian Richard Pryor.
The Krofft puppets frequently made cameos on other well-known shows during the 1970s and ’80s.
Most recently, the beloved character H.R. Pufnstuf appeared in the brothers’ 2016 Nick Jr. show, “Mutt & Stuff,” about an animatronic dog at a canine school.
The brothers also produced other beloved shows such as “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters,” “Land of the Lost,” “D.C. Follies” and the prime-time variety shows “Donny and Marie” and “Barbara Mandrell and the Mandrell Sisters.”
Sid, left, and brother Marty Krofft pose with some of the life-size puppets created for their syndicated series “D.C. Follies” in Los Angeles in 1987.
(Reed Saxon / Associated Press)
Because the shows often featured eccentric and larger-than-life characters, Sid once told The Times that people were convinced the ideas came from using psychedelics. But he insisted the concepts were born during his daily runs along the Los Angeles coastline.
“I’m a runner, and I thought of them during my runs on the beach at Santa Monica,” Sid said. “That’s where they came from.”
While the 1970s were the defining decade for the Krofft brothers, they got their start as puppeteers decades prior.
In a long-standing rumor, Sid and Marty were said to be fifth-generation puppeteers. In an interview with The Times, Sid confessed that the whole thing was a lie concocted by a publicist in the 1940s. Their father, Peter Krofft, was a clock salesman and joined Sid when he was on tour as a teenager.
Sid was born July 30, 1929, in Montreal. The brothers immigrated to New York City from Canada with their father. Sid started working as a professional puppeteer at age 10. By the time he was 15, he had joined the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as “the world’s youngest puppeteer.” By his late 20s, he was working as the opening act for big industry figures like the Andrews Sisters, Judy Garland and Cyd Charisse. That’s around the time he hired his brother — who was seven years younger and a salesman — as his assistant.
“I desperately needed an assistant and saw this as a great opportunity to bring out my brother Marty,” Sid said of his youngest brother. “That single moment in my life is what started our long-running career together.”
They later created cabaret-inspired “Les Poupées de Paris,” which opened in 1961 at the Gilded Rafters in the San Fernando Valley, then played at Hollywood’s P.J.’s. It toured the country throughout the ’60s.
While Sid was the creative force behind their projects, Marty was the brains behind the business operation.
Sid Krofft sits for portraits at his home in Los Angeles in 2021.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
Sid wrote a tribute to his brother for The Times after his death.
“Marty and I were oil and vinegar,” he wrote. “We worked in different ways, but if you shook us up, we were a great dressing.”
The brothers’ relationship was publicly known to be rocky at times. “It’s not easy for two brothers to work together,” Marty told The Times.
Their shows were low budget; shot on sets that were once thought to be outdated by the 1980s. But the brothers maintained the rights to their creative properties, and some of their most popular stories had revivals or remakes.
In 2009, Universal Pictures adapted “Land of the Lost” into a $100-million box-office flop about the tales of a family stranded in a dinosaur-ridden jungle.
In 2018, the brothers were honored with a lifetime achievement award at the Daytime Emmys, and in 2020, they received stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 2021, Kroff resurfaced in the public eye with an Instagram Live show called “Sundays With Sid.” Marty created his own YouTube series soon after called “Mondays With Marty.”
