Joanne Rogers, the widow of Fred Rogers and an accomplished concert pianist, has died. Rogers, who nurtured the memory and legacy of the gentle TV host who entertained and educated generations of preschoolers on “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” after his 2003 death, died Thursday, according to the Fred Rogers Center. Movies How befriending Mister Rogers’ widow allowed me to learn the …
Screenwriters Micah Fitzerman-Blue, left, and Noah Harpster got the blessing of Fred Rogers’ widow, Joanne, to write a film about her husband, if they promised not to treat him like a saint. We wanted the movie to feel like an episode of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” for grown-ups, about a journalist on assignment to profile Fred Rogers. He shook our hands, …
Fred Rogers proposed to Sara Joanne Byrd in a letter. Joanne — she dropped “Sara” early on, deeming it too stuffy — was raised in a Puritan home, and she was repulsed by her schoolmates who talked about “sucking face.” Any kissing she said she and Fred did was “pretty unpracticed.” When Fred headed to New York after graduation for …
