Aart Staartjes

Aart Staartjes (1 March 1938 – 12 January 2020) was a Dutch actor, director, television presenter and documentary maker from Amsterdam. He portrayed Meneer Aart ("Mister Aart") on Sesamstraat, the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street. The character was used in the title of his 2002 biography ("Mister Aart: Life and work of the man who does not want to be named a friend to children").

Staartjes presented the annual arrival of Sinterklaas in the Netherlands.

Early life Staartjes was born in Nieuwendam, a neighbourhood of Amsterdam-Noord. He had an older brother, and a younger sister. They lived in a house on the Nieuwendammerdijk. His father, his grandfather, and an uncle of his worked in a carpentry shop located behind the house. Staartjes started his primary education at the age of eight. After that, he went to the mulo in Amsterdam, followed by the Kweekschool, a teachers' college. He dropped out of the Kweekschool in 1958, and went to the theatre school. He graduated in 1961.

Career After graduation from the Toneelschool, Staartjes performed with various companies including the Nieuw Rotterdams Toneel en Studio. Staartjes made his debut in 1961 in Meneer Topaze, based on a play written by Marcel Pagnol in the 1930s. He performed in a number of TV shows, and in 1967 starts the show Woord voor Woord for the Interkerkelijke Omroep Nederland, in which he performed Bible readings. He is the voice of Rocus in the children's show Fabeltjeskrant. The show and its successor were hailed as groundbreaking in offering the point of view of children and in popularizing poetry for children to a wide audience. After the show ended in 1974, he performed in and co-directed De film van ome Willem, starring Edwin Rutten, a show that ran until 1989.

Filmography (selection) De FabeltjesKrant (TV series), voice of Rocus (1969–72) De Stratemakeropzeeshow (TV series), starring as Stratemaker-op-zee, abbreviated "Straat" Oorlogswinter (Winter in Wartime) (1975 TV mini-series), director Pinkeltje (1978 film), starring as Pinkeltje (Fingerling) De Film van Ome Willem (TV series), performer and director J.J. de Bom, voorheen de Kindervriend (TV series), as Hein Gatje (1979–81) Het Klokhuis (TV series) 1988-, among others as Fetze Als-vanouds Waltz (TV miniseries) 2006, starring as Willy Waltz