Inception Sesame Street was created, through private and federal grants, as a television series to "give the disadvantaged child a fair chance at the beginning," as co-creator
Joan Ganz Cooney wrote in the 1967 study
The Potential Uses of Television in Preschool Education. Especially before the inclusion of
the Muppets in Street scenes,
Sesame Street was centered on Gordon and Susan. As per suggested by Harvard psychologist
Jerome Kagan, Cooney advised in
The Potential Uses that a series should feature a male lead, to "provide continuity from one segment to another, establish the tone, and function, subtly, as the master teacher." A male teacher would both encourage kids to emulate an intelligent adult, and "defeminize the early learning atmosphere." His report suggested that, after the
slavery-era of US history, the rise of
out-of-wedlock births, absent fathers, and female-headed families only perpetuated cyclical
poverty. In his memoirs, Roscoe Orman who portrays Gordon Robinson commented that "what the character most significantly symbolizes, his most distinguishing and praiseworthy attribute, may lie in the simple fact that he is a man of African descent who for over three decades has been a respected and beloved father figure to young people of all races and all social classes all across America and beyond." He continues to say that while "born in a country that was founded and has continued to thrive upon the subjugation of his ancestors, he harbors no hatred or thirst for revenge but, on the contrary, is a model of patience, understanding, and civic responsibility who embraces all of humankind." Orman went on to describe his on-screen wife, Susan, as an "exemplary model of African-American womanhood" and the couple's on-going relationship "in sharp contrast to the prevailing images of black men that have been projected within mainstream American culture since and especially prior to
Sesame Street’s premiere and certainly during the formative years of my own generation."
Casting Actors were selected for the roles of Gordon, Susan, Bob, and Mr. Hooper by an audience of children who had watched videotaped performances. While some shows replace actors appearing in pilot episodes due to audience involvement,
casting control this early on was and is unusual. In a series of test pilots, Garrett Saunders played Gordon; records of his appearance were lost by producers, and his identity was unknown until his family identified him in 2011. Gordon was the first character with spoken lines in the show, as a result of difficulty in finding someone to fill the figure. This was against his original intentions with joining the show as he preferred a behind-the-scenes role, and was initially reluctant to take the part. Dolores Robinson commented on his backseat role on the set with, "He was by nature shy, and he knew that they were having a difficult time casting Gordon. And the people overseeing the taping up in the booth, peering at the monitors, kept saying, ‘Matt knows what to do. He should be the Gordon.’" He ultimately resigned from the role in 1972. In early episodes, it was often Gordon introducing and concluding the program.
Loretta Long was chosen to play the lead role of Susan. Her prior experience included hosting
Soul!, a variety series on
NET (later
PBS). Initially, she was a supply teacher for schools in the
Bronx area, which reportedly surprised and confused many young students. Some feminists still referred to her as "a hapless, hopelessly vague mother", even after the change. Even with the addition of
Sonia Manzano as the young, single woman
Maria in the third season, critics still chided "All in all, Sesame Street has changed, from being incredibly sexist to being slightly less sexist"
Adopting Miles In 1985, Orman and his wife were about to have their second child together;
Big Bird puppeteer
Caroll Spinney mentioned this to his wife, Debra. They went to producer
Dulcy Singer, suggesting that Gordon and Susan should have a child on the show. It was decided that they would
adopt, instead of Susan being
pregnant, and that Orman's newborn son
Miles would take the role. It was revealed that Susan had been trying to become pregnant, but to no avail due to
infertility. At age seven, the younger Orman quit the series and was replaced by child actor Imani Patterson. Before the series of episodes where Miles is adopted, Gordon and Susan lacked last names. "Robinson", named after original Gordon actor, Matt Robinson, was shown as Miles' last name on his adoption certificate.
Recent appearances in
Austin, Texas. Looking back on his role, over the last 33 years, Orman commented, "If I could boast of no other major career accomplishment, having played a central role as I have in the development and continuation of this landmark series would alone have made my life sufficiently meaningful. The historical significance of
Sesame Street and its surprising longevity have made my association with the show, in many regards, my life's crowning achievement." Faison could be used more frequently as a singer on the series. Plot lines like season 36 episode 4089 focused on Miles singing numerous 1960s-style parody songs for
American Fruitstand. In episode 4112 (2006), Miles graduated from
high school alongside Gabi, despite the fact that the characters' respective births on the show occurred four years apart. A flashback in this episode also revealed that Miles was shy on his first day of school. Loretta Long is the last surviving non-puppeteer actor on
Sesame Street from its first episode, as Matt Robinson (Gordon for the first three seasons) left the show in 1972 and died in 2002,
Will Lee (Mr. Hooper) died in 1982, and
Bob McGrath left the show in 2016 and died in 2022. While none of the actors have appeared in a significant number of episodes since about season 38, the longevity of their roles are with few precedents. Of the Muppets from the first episode—
Big Bird,
Oscar the Grouch,
Kermit the Frog,
Cookie Monster, and
Bert and Ernie—all except Kermit are still major characters on the show. However,
Jim Henson (Kermit and Ernie) died, with
Steve Whitmire playing Ernie from 1993 to 2014, followed by Billy Barkhurst from 2014 to 2017, and then
Peter Linz since 2017 (Kermit no longer appears);
Frank Oz, busy as a director, puppeteered Grover, Bert, and Cookie Monster occasionally until 2012 (
Eric Jacobson and
David Rudman have largely taken over his respective characters); and
Caroll Spinney retired in 2018 and died in 2019, thus handing over the role of Big Bird to
Matt Vogel, and Oscar the Grouch to Jacobson. On July 28, 2016, it was announced that Gordon (along with Bob and Luis) would be dropped from the show as Orman, McGrath, and Delgado's contracts were not renewed as part of Sesame Workshop's re-tooling for the series. Following Orman, McGrath, and Delgado's departures, the workshop stated that they would continue to represent them at public events. Gordon made a more featured return appearance on the series proper in Episode 5401 (a Season 54 episode) and Episode 5511 (a Season 55 episode). He is the first original
Sesame Street human character to resurface in new material on the show itself since Season 46. However, some of the former cast members also appeared in ''
Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration'', online videos, and town halls the show had produced in the years in between then.
Birthdays Since
Sesame Street Magazine published calendars in every issue, character birthdays were established. Gordon's is February 23, Susan's is May 3, and Miles' is December 4. Gordon's brother Stevie was born on October 20. ==Relatives==