- Stu Kerr
Thomas Stuart Kerr, more familiarly known to audiences as Stu Kerr (
March 9 ,1928 -July 17 ,1994 ), was aBaltimore, Maryland , television personality who developed and hosted a number of programs on Baltimore television from 1952 through the 1980s. Playing a "conductor" on the show "Caboose" in 1978, he discoveredKevin Clash andTodd Stockman .Kerr was born in
Yonkers, New York and as a teenager worked as anNBC page at the network'sRockefeller Center headquarters. He later recalled "sitting in Lowell Thomas' seat right after he left, while it was still warm", practicing script readingScott Shane, "Television host Stu Kerr, beloved by children, dies", Baltimore "Sun",July 18 ,1994 .] His first full-time broadcasting job was on radio at the age of 19. Drafted into the U.S. Army in 1950, he saw combat action during theKorean War .Kerr's television career began in 1952 at
WMAR-TV in Baltimore, where he created "The Janitor", a late-night show displaying his talent for improvisation. He then played in various children's shows at WMAR-TV, beginning with "Bozo the Clown " in the 1960s and, later, inventing the character "Professor Kool" on his popular "Professor Kool's Fun Skool" program in the late 1970s. He was also the weatherman on the early and late evening news programs throughout most of the 1970s. The station's weather set was notable for having hand-movable dials that looked like a digital thermometer and barometer.Kerr also hosted "
Dialing for Dollars " onWMAR-TV until that show ended its 38-year run on Baltimore radio and television in 1977. After leaving WMAR-TV in 1981, he was a weatherman onWJLA-TV inWashington, D.C. , and also performed in "54 Space Corps", apuppet show televised onWNUV-TV in Baltimore. Kerr also had small roles in the movies "The Adventure of the Action Hunters" and "Morgan Stewart's Coming Home ", both filmed in 1987.He created the recurring character role of "Scoop Toot" on the long-running national network children's program
Captain Kangaroo .Kerr died of
bone marrow cancer inBaltimore onJuly 17 ,1994 .References
External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0449808/ IMDB entry on Stu Kerr]
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
