Growing up, my after school routine consisted of carefully hanging my school uniform back in the closet, eating a snack, and watching an hour of cartoons on television. My mother allowed us to watch exactly an hour of TV prior to cracking the whip and making me (and my three brothers) complete our homework. When we were younger my brothers and I didn’t agree on much, but when it came to after-school cartoons there was never an issue our one and only TV would be tuned into “The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.”
Sadly, I recently learned Chris Hayward, the Emmy-winning television writer who helped develop the bumbling animated Canadian Mountie Dudley Do-Right and other offbeat characters for the “Rocky and Bullwinkle” TV show has died. His wife told news reporters Hayward died of cancer at home in Beverly Hills last month. He was 81.
Looking back at the show’s timeline makes me feel really old. “Rocky and Friends” debuted on ABC in 1959 and was renamed “The Bullwinkle Show” when it moved to NBC in 1961. But, as you “Bullwinkle” fans know, the adventures of the flying squirrel and his moose pal weren’t the only memorable parts of the show. The hit TV series also featured segments such as Mr. Peabody, a time-traveling dog with a boy companion, and Dudley, a wayward hero who was constantly in pursuit of his nemesis Snidely Whiplash.
According to his colleagues, Hayward is credited with reinventing the Do-Right character in addition to writing for the show’s two lead characters. Hayward also went on to create “The Munsters,” and in 1968 he and his writing partner received an Emmy for their work on the CBS sitcom “He & She.”
Hayward’s wife told reporters that he was “born to write.” His birthplace is listed as Bayonne, New Jersey, though records show Hayward moved to Los Angeles at age 17. That’s where he took a night class in scriptwriting at a local high school and went into television in the 1950s. Hayward’s other credits include working on “Crusader Rabbit,” the first cartoon show created specifically for television, as well as “Get Smart,””My Mother the Car” and “Barney Miller.”
Were (are) you a Rocky and Bullwinkle fan?
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