'Captain Kangaroo' Puppeteer Dies: Cosmo Allegretti, Dancing Bear And Mr. Moose Performer, Dead at 86.

The man behind the beloved "Captain Kangaroo" characters like Dancing Bear and Mr. Moose has died. Cosmo Allegretti, a puppeteer, both created and voiced a number of characters on the popular children's program. He died July 26 of emphysema in his Arizona home, his attorney John Munzel announced Wednesday. He was 86.

He worked as a set painter in the formative years of the show. He started off with puppeteering skills, but it wasn't until later on that he got a shot to show his skills on the program. His characters were so popular that one costume, that of Dancing Bear, sold for $200,000 at the Nate D. Sanders Auction House in June.

"The value of Dancing Bear's costume increased due to the fact that the Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit puppets had already been donated to the prestigious Smithsonian Institute in Washington and will never be for sale," reported PRWeb.

Allegretti created Bunny Rabbit, Mister Moose, Rollo the Hippopotamus, Miss Worm, Cornelius the Walrus, Dennis the Apprentice and more after producers of the show were dissatisfied with a puppet they hired someone to make. The show began in 1955 and aired on CBS for more than 30 years.