Mark Ritts

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Mark Ritts (June 16, 1946 – December 7, 2009) was an American actor, puppeteer, television producer and director, and author. He led Mark Ritts Productions, Inc., creating videos and TV spots for clients around the world. Born in West Chester, Pennsylvania, he studied English at Harvard. As the son of puppeteers Paul and Mary Ritts, he pursued puppetry and performed on PBS’s The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson and NBC’s The Pink Panther Show, among others, including the 1980s puppet show Starstuff in the Philadelphia area.

In the 1990s, Ritts voiced Kino, the co-host and puppet performer on PBS’s Storytime, and helped write the show. He appeared on CBS’s Beakman’s World from 1992 to 1998 as Lester, a disgruntled actor in a rat suit who assists Beakman with experiments. He also operated the Herb penguin puppet (voiced by Alan Barzman). Storytime aired in nearly 90 countries and remained popular in syndication.

After moving to California in 1994, Ritts wrote and produced a Barney the Dinosaur special for Fox and created a prime-time PBS documentary, Creators of the Future (1999). He co-authored the parenting book Mom, I Hate You (2003) with Don Fleming. He released Cast Off for Catalina (2005) and Cast Off for Mexico (2007). He provided the voice for Gianciotto in the film Dante’s Inferno (2007). He produced a high-definition documentary for Merck & Co., directed a Carlson Hotels conference at Las Vegas’s Bellagio, and directed the Court TV series North Mission Road.

Ritts died of kidney cancer in La Cañada Flintridge, California, at age 63. He was married to Teresa Parente and had a daughter; he previously married Nina Daniel and had two sons.