The most famous reindeer of all is celebrating his 60th birthday today!
The “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” TV special first debuted 60 years ago today on NBC, on December 6, 1964.
The stop-motion film has aired on TV every single year since, earning the distinction of the longest continuously running Christmas TV special in the United States!
We all remember watching Rudolph as kids, right? The little reindeer charmed us with his bright and shiny nose. But we also loved Burl Ives as the voice of Sam the Snowman, Hermy the elf who wanted to be a dentist, the gruff prospector Yukon Cornelius, the Island of Misfit Toys, and who could forget the Abominable Snowman?
Producer Arthur Rankin, Jr. died in 2014, but said in 2005 that “Rudolph” immediately struck a chord with both kids and adults. “I think all kids are looking for guidance. I think all kids feel slightly inferior. Kids love to see someone of their own stripe, their own age or their own inferiority, achieve things. It makes them feel good. I think that’s probably the reason these films last so long, because in all our films that happens. The bad guy becomes a good guy, he’s reformed, and the underdog fulfills his quest,” Rankin said.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” airs at 8pm ET tonight on NBC, and again on December 12.
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