Skip Hinnant Dies at 86: Electric Company Star, Voice of Fritz the Cat

Skip Hinnant, the actor who taught a generation to read on PBS' "The Electric Company" and voiced the decidedly adult Fritz the Cat for Ralph Bakshi, died Nov. 8 in Denver. He was 86.

His family confirmed the death in an obituary notice published by the New York Times.

Hinnant's career ran on two tracks that rarely intersect: wholesome children's television and the raunchiest corner of 1970s animation. He handled both without apparent strain.

What was Hinnant's signature role?

He was a charter member of the "The Electric Company" cast in 1971. The show, a daytime companion to "Sesame Street," aimed to build critical thinking skills in older kids. Hinnant stayed through the series' end in 1977, playing a range of characters in its fast-paced, sketch-centered format. His colleagues over the years included Rita Moreno, Morgan Freeman, Zero Mostel and Bill Cosby.

Midway through that run, animator Ralph Bakshi recruited him to voice the title character in 1972's "Fritz the Cat," based on the lascivious stoner cat created by underground cartoonist Robert Crumb. The film became an underground hit — despite Crumb's own objection to the adaptation — and spawned a 1974 sequel, "The Nine Lives of Fritz the Cat."

A PBS literacy advocate by day, an X-rated cartoon cat by night. The industry never asked actors to pick a lane in those years.

Where did Hinnant start?

Born Joseph Howard Hinnant in 1940, he grew up on Chincoteague Island, Virginia. His older sister Jean nicknamed him Skip; the name stuck as his career took off. He graduated from Yale University in 1962.

That same year he performed at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner for President John F. Kennedy. In 1963 he joined the Julius Monk revue "Struts and Frets" — the launchpad revue format that fed New York's cabaret scene for decades.

In 1967 he originated the role of Schroeder in the Off Broadway debut of the Peanuts musical "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." A recurring role on the ABC sitcom "The Patty Duke Show" came the previous year.

What else did he do?

Plenty, and across every medium available:

• Voiced the Easter Bunny in the 1977 Rankin-Bass TV special "The Easter Bunny is Comin' to Town," narrated by Fred Astaire
• Later screen credits included "Kate & Allie," "As the World Turns" and "3-2-1 Contact"
• Prolific voice-over work in animation and TV commercials
• Active in Actors Equity, AFTRA and SAG (before the latter two unions merged) from the 1980s through the early 2000s

That union work is the quiet footnote most obituaries bury. Hinnant spent two decades on it.

He is survived by his first wife, Miriam Hinnant, his longtime companion Ruth Nerken, four children and nine grandchildren. The family asks that donations go in his name to the Entertainment Community Fund or the SAG-AFTRA Foundation — a fitting request for an actor who spent his later years working the union side of the business.