‘Starstruck:’ Jeffery Straker describes meeting Bob McGrath

Jeffery Straker fondly recalls his first encounter with Bob McGrath.

“I remember the moment meeting him in that first production meeting before the show and I was starstruck,” Straker told the Greg Morgan Morning Show on Monday. “Not for any weird reason like he’s unapproachable, it’s just that he was this person who brought you up.

“It was an odd kind of stardom because you were so familiar with him that he seemed like someone you should almost never see in person, yet there it was.”

McGrath, an original cast member of “Sesame Street” and a longtime host of Saskatchewan’s Telemiracle, died Sunday at age 90. According to statements shared on social media by his family and Sesame Workshop, he “died peacefully at home (Sunday) surrounded by family.”

Straker has hosted Telemiracle and that’s where he met and worked with McGrath.

Straker described McGrath as someone who could put a smile on your face. He saw that firsthand when he and McGrath were in New Jersey.

“We went onto the set of Sesame Street and everyone greeted him with a big smile. He was this person who brought out a smile and happiness in everyone,” Straker explained.

Straker said McGrath took him to world-famous Carnegie Hall and mentioned McGrath was a popular individual when they arrived there.

“He spent a lot of his career as a tenor singing in concert halls around the world. He was a great singer,” Straker said. “When we went to Carnegie Hall, everyone knew Bob and they greeted him with a smile and he really reminded me through all that that he was one of a kind.

“He was an example of how to do it and how to live life. If you can be someone who everyone when they see you smiles, I think you’ve done it right.”

McGrath last hosted Telemiracle in 2015. The American singer and actor had been a part of all but two of the annual fundraisers since Telemiracle was started by the Kinsmen and Kinettes in 1977.

The event has helped raise more than $95 million to assist Saskatchewan people in acquiring special-needs equipment and access to medical treatment.

In 2013, McGrath was presented with the Saskatchewan Distinguished Service Award.

At the time, then-Premier Brad Wall said: “It is truly an honour to present this award to such a worthy individual. For more than three decades Mr. McGrath has touched the lives of thousands of Saskatchewan families through his work with the Kinsmen Telemiracle. On behalf of a very grateful province, I would like to thank Mr. McGrath for all that he has done for our most vulnerable citizens.”

In a tweet Sunday, Sesame Workshop — the nonprofit educational organization behind Sesame Street — said: “Bob embodied the melodies of Sesame Street like no one else, and his performances brought joy and wonder to generations of children around the world  … whether teaching them the ABCs, the people in their neighbourhood, or the simple joy of feeling music in their hearts. A revered performer worldwide, Bob’s rich tenor filled airwaves and concert halls from Las Vegas to Saskatchewan to Tokyo many times over.”

— With files from paNOW’s Teena Monteleone