Judith Freudberg (July 12, 1949 – June 10, 2012) was an American TV and film writer. She was born in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

, and graduated from

Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...

with a degree in speech and dramatic arts. In 1971, she started working on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000) a ...

'', two years after the show's debut, as an assistant in the music department and became a writer for the children's television show in 1975. Freudberg worked on that show for 35 years and shared 17

daytime Emmys The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

. One of the creators and developers of ''

Elmo's World ''Elmo's World'' is a segment that is shown at the end of the long-running American children's television program ''Sesame Street'' which premiered on November 16th, 1998, as part of a broader structural change to the show. It originally lasted ...

'', she served as head writer for that popular segment. Freudberg collaborated with

Tony Geiss Nicholas Anthony "Tony" Geiss (November 16, 1924 – January 21, 2011) was an American producer, screenwriter, songwriter and author, known principally for his children's work. Biography Geiss was born in The Bronx to Alexander Geiss and Ma ...

on Sesame Street's first feature film, '' Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird'' (1985) as well as ''

An American Tail ''An American Tail'' is a 1986 American Animated film, animated musical film, musical adventure film directed by Don Bluth from a screenplay by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss and a story by David Kirschner, Freudberg and Geiss. The film features t ...

'' (1986) and ''

The Land Before Time ''The Land Before Time'' is an American animated film series and media franchise created by Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss, distributed by Universal Pictures and centered on dinosaurs. The series began in 1988 with the eponymous '' The Land Bef ...

'' (1988), two feature animation films directed by

Don Bluth Donald Virgil Bluth (; born September 13, 1937) is an American film director, animator, production designer, and animation instructor, best known for his animated films, including ''The Secret of NIMH'' (1982), ''An American Tail'' (1986), ''Th ...

and executive produced by

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Spie ...

. She and Molly Boylan were nominated for a Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Writing in a Children's Special for the home video ''Elmo's World: Wild Wild West'' (2001). For ''Sesame Street'' season 35, Freudberg co-wrote, with Lou Berger, the primetime special, ''Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On'' (2004), which was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Children's Program. Freudberg died on June 10, 2012 in Manhattan at age 62 from complications of a

brain tumor A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...

References

External links

* 1949 births 2012 deaths Sesame Street crew American television writers American women television writers Deaths from brain cancer in the United States {{US-tv-writer-stub