Mark Ritts — Lester the Lab Rat on Beakman’s World — Dies at 63
Actor and puppeteer also worked on educational series Storytime.
Actor Mark Ritts, who played Lester the lab rat on the children’s science series Beakman’s World, died of cancer on December 7, 2009, at his home in La Cañada Flintridge, California. He was 63.
Ritts was born June 16, 1946, in West Chester, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Princeton, New Jersey. He was a second-generation television personality — his parents, Paul and Mary Ritts, known for their work as the Ritts Puppets, began appearing on the small screen in the early 1950s.
He earned a degree in English literature at Harvard University, where he was also active in theater.
Mark Ritts, who learned puppetry from his parents, came to Beakman’s World expecting to operate a puppet named Lester the rat. Instead, he learned that he would wear a rat suit that made no real effort to resemble an actual rat. Case in point, it had no arms (which allowed Ritts to sport a variety of tattoos during the show’s run) and instead of a complete rat’s head, Ritts, who had a beard, wore a rat nose with clearly visible elastic holding it in place.
The character became popular as a sidekick and frequent foil for the eccentric scientist, Beakman, played by Paul Zaloom.
Beakman’s World, which began in 1992 in syndication and on the Learning Channel, moved to CBS, where it ran from 1993 to 1998. It is still in worldwide syndication.
During the 1990s, Ritts also worked on the PBS series Storytime, on which he voiced and operated Kino, a seven-year-old boy puppet. He was also a writer for the series, and won a Los Angeles Area Emmy Award for his performance.
Over the course of the show, Ritts worked with numerous celebrities who appeared on the show to read children’s stories to the young viewers. These included John Goodman, Tom Selleck, Ellen DeGeneres, John Ritter, Kirk Douglas, Little Richard and Kirsten Dunst.
Later in his career, Ritts made short films for corporate clients and produced public service announcements and live corporate shows. He also continued to work as a puppeteer on NBC’s The Pink Panther Show, PBS’ The Real Adventures of Sherlock Jones and Proctor Watson and other television shows.
Ritts is survived by his wife and three children.