Fred Rogers was the kind of person who made everyone's life better. On Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, he taught children life lessons that reinforced how special and important they were, and even after his death, more heartwarming stories about the man have come out, both from cast members on his show and children who got the chance to meet their TV neighbor. From the time Mister Rogers went above and beyond to encourage a child in the hospital to the amusing anecdotes his wife has shared about him, let's take a look at some things that have come out about Mister Rogers since he died.
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00:00Fred Rogers was a gentle genius who knew how to make children feel good about themselves.
00:05Even after his death in February 2003, he continues to fascinate and inspire folks of
00:10all ages.
00:11Here are a few interesting facts we've learned about Mr. Rogers since he died.
00:15For many people, the introduction to Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood is a precious childhood memory
00:20in and of itself.
00:21If you've ever watched the show growing up, the thought of Fred Rogers walking through
00:25that front door is enough to fill your heart with joy.
00:28The young fan knew what came next.
00:30He'd hang up the jacket, put on a sweater, and switch out the loafers for sneakers, all
00:34while singing about how much he appreciated his viewers.
00:37As you may already know, Rogers' mother personally knitted his sweaters as a way of saying,
00:42I love you.
00:43My mother, as long as I could remember, made at least one sweater every month.
00:49After she died, the show's staff purchased similar-looking sweaters and dyed them to
00:53keep the tradition going.
00:55The clothes didn't just have sentimental value, though.
00:58According to a 2014 post on fredrogers.org,
01:01"...this predictability offered a sense of security.
01:04Through your rituals and routines, you're offering that to children, too."
01:08And since Rogers was remarkably thoughtful, he based his routine on what viewers might
01:12expect at home.
01:13Since the show originally aired late in the afternoon, right around the time parents typically
01:18returned home from work, Rogers switched from jackets to sweaters to signify that work time
01:22was over.
01:23Similarly, putting on sneakers was meant to create a more casual atmosphere.
01:28When you're hospitalized for any reason, having a friend in your corner can mean the world.
01:32For Beth Usher, that friend was Fred Rogers.
01:35In 2018, Usher shared her ordeal with Today as part of a tribute to Rogers.
01:39As a child, Usher suffered from a rare and debilitating disease called Rasmussen encephalitis,
01:46which was destroying her brain cells and causing up to 100 seizures per day.
01:50As a result, she frequently fell and hit her head on the floor.
01:53At the age of five, she had to have half of her brain removed.
01:56Watching Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood brought Usher solace, so her mother contacted his
02:00assistant in the hopes of getting an autographed picture.
02:03Instead, Rogers called and spoke to young Usher for an hour.
02:07They discussed her fears and her favorite puppets on the show.
02:10After her operation, Usher fell into a weeks-long coma.
02:13Rogers, an ordained minister, prayed with Usher's mother over the phone and eventually
02:18flew from Pittsburgh to Baltimore to see Beth.
02:20He greeted the unconscious child with her favorite puppets.
02:23As she writes in her essay,
02:24"...for the following hour, I was the star in his neighborhood."
02:28As Beth told the New York Post in 2018,
02:30"...I felt like I was touched by an angel when I met Mr. Rogers."
02:35Their friendship would last a lifetime
02:38In 1968, Mr. Rogers asked Francois Clemens to play the neighborhood policeman on his
02:43show.
02:44This was a significant casting choice for a number of reasons.
02:47As Clemens told the New York Post,
02:49"...I came from the ghetto.
02:50I always thought of the police as being the most dangerous person in the neighborhood."
02:54In addition to facing the racial tensions of the time, Clemens had to grapple with being
02:59gay.
03:00In the 2018 documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, he says,
03:03"...there were black kids watching the show.
03:05They needed a black figure who would not let them down."
03:10He goes on to explain,
03:11"...if I came out as gay and there was some kind of scandal, that would not serve the
03:15race."
03:16Rogers learned Clemens was gay a few months after he was hired.
03:20Concerned about backlash from conservative viewers, he asked Clemens to remain closeted.
03:25Clemens complied, and even married a woman, but these sacrifices didn't spoil his view
03:30of Rogers.
03:31As he explains,
03:32"...from then on he became my surrogate father."
03:36When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Rogers personally picked up a distraught Clemens
03:41from his home out of concern for his safety.
03:43Clemens tells Variety,
03:45"...I never had someone express that kind of deep sense of protection for me."
03:49Rogers' views evolved over time, and he later sought out openly gay guests on his show.
03:55In a 2018 Today interview, Fred Rogers' widow Joanne opened up about how her husband of
04:00nearly 51 years proposed.
04:02"...He wrote me a letter.
04:03My last year at Florida State, he wrote me a letter proposing marriage."
04:08In the documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Fred Rogers' son Jim revealed how his dad
04:12vented his anger.
04:14Rather than shout or dole out spankings, he spoke in the voice of his often grumpy puppet
04:19creation, Lady Elaine Fairchild.
04:22And in regards to Daniel Striped Tiger, Joanne revealed,
04:25"...but I think Daniel was the real Fred."
04:30In a 2015 article headlined St. Fred, Atlantic contributor Jonathan Merritt wrote that
04:35"...if Protestants had saints, Mr. Rogers might already have been canonized."
04:40Speaking to Today in 2018, Won't You Be My Neighbor?
04:43director Morgan Neville revealed that Fred wouldn't have wanted such high praise, at
04:47least, according to his widow Joanne.
04:49As Neville puts it,
04:50"...Joanne told me at the beginning, don't make Fred into a saint, because Fred's struggle
04:55was often against people who didn't take him seriously and understand the profundity of
04:59his message.
05:00Treating him like a saint keeps him two-dimensional.
05:03His mission was to tell us that we all struggle, and he doesn't exist on another plane."
05:08Mere months before Fred Rogers succumbed to stomach cancer, he recorded a short message
05:12for the adults who enjoyed his show when they were kids.
05:15It was the last recording he ever made at WQED Studios, where Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood
05:20was filmed.
05:21"...I know how tough it is some days to look with hope and confidence on the months and
05:28years ahead."
05:29He goes on to say,
05:30"...I would like to tell you what I often told you when you were much younger.
05:34I like you just the way you are."
05:36He then thanks his grown-up fans for helping the children in their lives feel safe.
05:40The clip ends with Rogers doing what he always did best, making other people feel valued.
05:44"...It's such a good feeling to know that we're lifelong friends."
05:49In the documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, Joanne reveals what Fred asked her on his
05:54deathbed.
05:55"...He said, do you think I'm a sheep?"
05:59Fred was likely referring to this passage in the Bible.
06:01When the Son of Man comes in his glory, he will separate the people one from another
06:06as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
06:08He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
06:11"...There was a little silence and then I said, Fred, if ever there was a sheep, you're
06:17one."