Sid Krofft, puppeteer behind H.R. Pufnstuf, dies at 96

Sid Krofft, the Canadian-born puppeteer and producer who helped define a delirious era of American children’s television, died Friday at 96 of natural causes in Los Angeles. He died at the home of his friend and business partner Kelly Killian, and a publicist said he had died peacefully in his sleep.

With his brother Marty, who died in November 2023 at 86, Sid Krofft built a body of work that ranged from beloved oddities to outright flops. The duo became synonymous with zany, high-concept children’s programming that embraced giant puppets, surreal sets and psychedelic design at a time when kids’ television was still finding its visual language. Their best-known creations included H.R. Pufnstuf, Land of the Lost, The Banana Splits Adventure Hour and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters.

H.R. Pufnstuf, which debuted in 1969, became the Kroffts’ breakthrough and the show most closely associated with the strange, elastic style they brought to the medium. Its blend of fantasy, spectacle and off-kilter characters helped establish that children’s TV could be more than simple instruction or straight comedy. It could be a pop-culture object, one that children remembered and adults later claimed as cult television. Land of the Lost extended that reach and eventually became a 2009 feature film, a sign of how durable the brothers’ creations proved to be long after their original broadcasts.

The Kroffts’ influence was recognized formally in recent years. In 2018, Sid and Marty Krofft received a Daytime Emmy lifetime achievement award, and in February 2020 they were given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce praised the brothers for producing family entertainment for more than 50 years, a span that covered television, live performance and the long afterlife of their characters in reruns and memory.

Killian called Sid Krofft extraordinary and said she loved him with her whole heart. A publicist said he remained active until the end and attended his final show in Rhode Island in November 2025. With his death, one of television’s most singular imaginations passed into history, leaving behind a body of work that helped make children’s programming feel weird, extravagant and unforgettable.