Fred Rogers

His popular show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was the longest-running program on public television. It ran 33 years and ended its run in 2001. Rogers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the nation can bestow, in 2001. Rogers died in February of this year at the age of 74. Barbara Bogaev conducted this interview.

He died of stomach cancer on February 27, 2003, at the age of 74. His popular show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, was the longest-running program on public television. It ended in 2001 after 33 years on the air. Last year, Rogers was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the nation can bestow. This interview first aired November 13, 2002.

We present an earlier interview with Fred Rogers. Terry Gross spoke with him in 1985, when Fresh Air was not yet a national show.

Marielle Heller's new film, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, was inspired by the true story of Rogers' relationship with journalist Tom Junod, who was assigned to profile Fred Rogers in 1998 for a special issue of Esquire on American Heroes. Junod had acquired a reputation for saying the unsayable in his profiles and for his cynicism. The two men — one known for kindness; the other for his skepticism — formed an unlikely friendship.

Marielle Heller's film A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood centers on Fred Rogers' unlikely friendship with a cynical journalist. Originally broadcast Nov. 20, 2019.

Fifty years ago Monday, when Fred Rogers showed up on national public television as the host of what then was a brand new children's show called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, TV was a lot different. PBS wasn't even a network then — not by that name, anyway — and aside from CBS, NBC and ABC, there were only a few independent local channels to watch, if that.