DENVER, November 14, 2026 — Actor and voice artist Skip Hinnant died peacefully on November 8 in Denver at age 86. His career bridged the gap between groundbreaking children’s educational television and the era’s experimental adult animation.
From Chincoteague to Off-Broadway
Joseph Howard Hinnant was born on September 12, 1940, on Chincoteague Island, Virginia. His sister Jean nicknamed him Skip, and the name stuck. He graduated from Yale University in 1962 and performed at the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner for President Kennedy the following year as part of the Julius Monk revue “Struts and Frets”.
His first major television role came as Ted, boyfriend to Cathy Lane, on ABC’s The Patty Duke Show from 1963 to 1965. In 1967, he originated the role of Schroeder in the original Off-Broadway production of You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Theater 80 St. Marks in Greenwich Village. He shared the stage with his older brother Bill, who played Snoopy, alongside Gary Burghoff as Charlie Brown and Bob Balaban as Linus. The production became one of the most produced musicals in American history.
The Electric Company and a Generation of Readers
In 1971, Hinnant became a charter member of PBS’s The Electric Company, a Children’s Television Workshop series designed as a companion to Sesame Street to help older children develop critical thinking and reading skills. The Emmy-winning program used comedy, music, and a fast-paced sketch format to teach phonics and spelling.
Hinnant remained with the show through its 1977 conclusion, appearing in 780 episodes. His most enduring character was Fargo North, Decoder — a detective whose name played on Fargo, North Dakota — who unscrambled word messages one letter at a time. He also starred as the boy in the soap opera parody “Love of Chair” and played Frankenstein, Jay-Jay, and Supper Man. The ensemble cast included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno, Bill Cosby, Judy Graubart, Lee Chamberlin, and Zero Mostel.
A Parallel Career in Adult Animation
While teaching children to read on weekday mornings, Hinnant voiced the title character in Ralph Bakshi’s Fritz the Cat (1972), the first animated film to receive an X rating. Based on Robert Crumb’s underground comics, the film depicted a hedonistic, stoned feline navigating a world of profanity, violence, and sex. Hinnant reprised the role for the 1974 sequel The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat, the first animated film to earn an R rating.
He returned to family-friendly fare as Sunny the Easter Bunny in the 1977 Rankin/Bass stop-motion special The Easter Bunny Is Comin’ to Town, narrated by Fred Astaire. Later voice work included Pogo Possum in I Go Pogo (1980), roles in Spidey Super Stories and My Little Pony (1986–1987), and a part in the 1990 animated special Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.
Union Advocacy and Later Years
Hinnant served on the national board of the Screen Actors Guild from 1980 to 2003 and was the longest-serving president of the New York branch. His family noted he was particularly proud of his work protecting commercial voice contracts and the rights of working performers. He retired from on-screen acting in the early 1990s to focus on voice-over work but returned in 2006 for PBS retrospectives on The Electric Company, reconnecting with adults who had learned to read with him.
Hinnant is survived by longtime partner Ruth Nerken, former wife Miriam Hinnant, four children, and nine grandchildren. The family plans a private celebration of life in Chincoteague, Virginia.
Sources
- 'The Electric Company' Star Skip Hinnant, Voice of 'Fritz the Cat,' Dies at 86
- Skip Hinnant
- Skip Hinnant Dead: 'Electric Company' Actor, Voice Of Fritz The Cat Was 86
- Skip Hinnant, Actor on ‘The Electric Company’ and Voice of Fritz the Cat, Dies at 86
- Skip Hinnant, ‘The Electric Company’ Actor and Voice of Ralph Bakshi’s ‘Fritz the Cat’ Movies, Dies at 86
- Skip Hinnant, Electric Company Star and The Voice of Fritz The Cat and the Original Schroeder in ‘You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,’ Dies at 86 – That Eric Alper
Photo: Otterbein University Theatre & Dance from USA (CC BY-SA 2.0)
