Jon Stone
| Jon Stone | |
|---|---|
| Born |
April 13, 1931 New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Died | March 30, 1997 (aged 65) New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis |
| Spouse(s) | Beverley Owen (1964 – 1974; divorced; 2 children) |
Jon Stone (April 13, 1931 – March 30, 1997) was an original crew member on Sesame Street and best known for writing and producing the program, and is credited with helping develop characters such as Cookie Monster, Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird. Many regard him as one of the best children's television writers.
Born in New Haven, Connecticut, Stone graduated from Williams College in 1952. He received a master's degree from the Yale University School of Drama in 1955, at which time he joined a CBS training program. It was then that Stone began his work in children's television, as a writer for Captain Kangaroo before moving onto Sesame Street as writer and executive producer. He also worked on several other Muppet projects before and during his time on Sesame Street, and was the author of several children's books, particularly The Monster at the End of This Book, published by Random House as a Little Golden Book.
Stone's earliest association with Jim Henson came in 1965, working on fairy tale projects with writer Tom Whedon, such as a proposed Snow White series. This was turned into a Cinderella pilot, which was shot in October of that year but never aired, and eventually became Hey, Cinderella!. Stone also appeared in Henson's 1967 short film Ripples, as an introspective architect.
In 1968, Stone brought Henson and Joe Raposo (who also worked on Hey, Cinderella!) to the attention of the Children's Television Workshop (now known as Sesame Workshop) president Joan Ganz Cooney when she started putting together Sesame Street. He wrote the pilot script, and was one of the three original producers of the program; he later served as an executive producer for many years.
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