Skip Hinnant, an original cast member of PBS’ The Electric Company in the 1970s and the prolific voice actor behind Fritz the Cat, My Little Pony and 1977’s stop-motion Easter Bunny, died Sunday, November 8, in Denver. He was 86.
His death was announced by his family, who noted he passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones.
Born Joseph Howard Hinnant on September 12, 1940, and raised on Chincoteague Island, Virginia, Hinnant got his start in television as a recurring character from 1963 to 1965 on ABC’s identical cousins sitcom The Patty Duke Show; he played the boyfriend of Duke’s Cathy (Eddie Applegate played the boyfriend of Duke’s Patty).
After originating the role of Schroeder in the Off Broadway musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (1967) – other cast members included Gary Burghoff as Charlie Brown, Bob Balaban as Linus and Hinnant’s late brother Bill Hinnant as Snoopy – Hinnant began expanding to voice work, including a 1969 episode of Sesame Street and, perhaps most famously, as the voice behind Fritz the Cat, the star character in Ralph Bakshi’s adult-oriented animation films based on the work of underground artist Robert Crumb. Hinnant voiced the role in the original X-rated Fritz the Cat (1972) and its 1974 R-rated sequel The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat.
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In 1971, Hinnant became an original featured performer in PBS’ kids show The Electric Company, where over the next six years and 780 episodes he would play the roles of Fargo North, Frankenstein, Jay-Jay and Supper Man, among others. His castmates included Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno and Bill Cosby.
Hinnant voiced the title character in the 1977 Rankin/Bass stop-motion Easter special The Easter Bunny is Comin’ to Town.
Other voice credits include the 1970s cartoon series Spidey Super Stories, the 1980 stop-motion film I Go Pogo (he was Pogo Possum), various roles on My Little Pony from 1986-1987, the 1990 TV movie Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and, that same year, HBO Storybook Musicals.
In the late 1980s he had onscreen roles in single episodes of As the World Turns (1988) and Kate & Allie (1989).
Hinnant was an active union member of Actor’s Equity, AFTRA, and Screen Actors Guild, serving on the national board of SAG from 1980 to 2003. His family notes that he “was proud of his work to preserve commercial voice contracts and the everyday actor’s rights.”
Hinnant is survived by longtime partner Ruth Nerken; children Chris, Jamie, Julie and Sara, and their spouses; nine grandchildren; and his ex-wife Miriam Hinnant.
