Allan Blye Dies: Costar of Mister Rogers & Emmy-Winning Writer Was 87

Allan Blye, a comedy writer who joined Fred Rogers in the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood predecessor MisteRogers, has died at 87.

Blye died at home in Palm Desert, California, on the morning of Friday, October 4, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, on July 19, 1937, Blye started his showbiz career as a singer, as THR reports. After a childhood spent performing solos in his synagogue’s choir, Blye sang on variety radio shows across his native Canada.

When Blye was in his early 20s, Rogers hired him to play Captain Blye on MisteRogers, which the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation aired between 1971 and 1967. Blye appeared in 44 episodes of the show between 1963 and 1967, his IMDb filmography shows. (Rogers then created Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, which ran on the U.S. networks NET and PBS between 1968 and 2001, though Blye didn’t appear on that show, according to the filmography.)

In 1968, Tom and Dick Smothers got Blye to move to Los Angeles to join the writers and producers of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. Blye got three Emmy nominations for his work on the show, and in 1969, he and his colleagues — including Steve Martin, Carl Gottlieb, and Bob Einstein— won the Emmy for Outstanding Writing Achievement in Comedy, Variety or Music.

Blye later got seven Emmy nominations for his writing work on The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour, plus another three nominations — and a win in the Outstanding Comedy – Variety Or Music Series category — for his work on Van Dyke and Company.

Other TV credits include The Andy Williams Show, That’s My Mama, The Bobby Vinton Show, Bizarre, and Super Dave.

Blye and Einstein, the star of Super Dave, were producing partners and shared dozens of screen credits, including The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and Van Dyke and Company.

According to THR, Blye is survived by wife Rita; brother Garry and sister-in-law Susan; children Debra, Jeffrey, Rob, Kate, Charlie, and Sam; and grandchildren Julian, Jeremy, and Scarlett.

Contributions honoring Blye can be made to The Michael J. Fox Foundation to support Parkinson’s research, Deadline reports.