Matt Robinson



Matt Robinson (Jan 1, 1937- August 5, 2002) was a writer ,producer, and actor who originated the role of Gordon on ''Sesame Street, playing the part from 1969 to 1972. He also performed the voice of Roosevelt Franklin.

Born in Philadelphia, Robinson graduated from Pennsylvania University in 1958 and penned the 1962 CBS slave revolt drama Rained All Night. Robinson began writing and producing black-oriented public affairs shows, such as Opportunity in Philadelphia. Joining the creative staff at Children's Television Workshop, Robinson was initially hired to supervise the filmed segments focusing on people in different lands. When the production team had difficulty finding the right actor for Gordon, who had been created as a strong male figure, Robinson took the part, and had the first spoken lines in the premiere episode of Sesame Street. He took his role seriously, as a role model for African-American children who lacked a positive father figure. "Somewhere around four or five," Robinson stated in the book All About Sesame Street, "a black kid is going to learn he’s black. He’s going to learn that’s positive or negative. What I want to project is a positive image." Robinson portrayed Gordon with an amiability and paternal attitude while occasionally alternating between standard grammar and "black" English, as the scene demanded and to better allow inner-city viewers to relate to the character. His dedication to Gordon's role model status occasionally led to conflicts with the show's other goals, as when complaints from feminists led to a 1970 storyline in which Susan takes a job as a nurse. Robinson was characterized in The New York Times as expressing personal ambivalence towards this development.

In the early 1990s, Robinson wrote a one-man play, The Confessions of Stepin Fetchit, which premiered Off-Broadway starring Roscoe Orman, his long-term successor as Gordon. Orman subsequently toured with the play.