Longtime writer Judy Freudberg, who shared 17 Daytime Emmys for her work on Sesame Street since 1975, died Sunday in New York of a brain tumor. She was 62.
With Tony Geiss -- who died last year at 86 -- she co-wrote the 1986 Don Bluth cartoon movie An American Tail. She also shared story credit on Bluth's The Land Before Time (1988).
Freudberg was a writer on numerous The Land Before Time videos: The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure (1994), The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving (1995), The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists (1996), The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island (1997), The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock (1998), The Land Before Time IX: Journey to the Big Water (2002), The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration (2003) and The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers (2006).
In addition, she wrote several episodes of The Land Before Time TV series: "Search for the Sky Color Stones," "The Cave of Many Voices" and "The Forbidden Friendship."
Freudberg co-created the "Elmo's World" segment of Sesame Street and was its head writer. She and Geiss wrote the 1985 feature film Sesame Street Presents: Follow that Bird, as well as many direct-to-video Sesame Street specials.
Her "four decades with Sesame Street brought laughter, music and learning to children every day," the cast, crew and producers of Sesame Street said in a statement. "Judy's words and stories will continue to entertain and bring joy to generations of young children to come throughout the world."
Freudberg wrote hundreds of "Elmo's World" segments for Sesame Street. Some featured such celebrities as Maya Angelou, Ellen DeGeneres, Jodie Foster, Whoopi Goldberg, Gregory Hines, Bill Irwin, BB King, Shari Lewis, Susan Sarandon and Lily Tomlin.
To celebrate the show's 35th anniversary, she and Lou Berger co-wrote, the primetime special Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On. It was nominated for an Emmy for children's program.
Born in Memphis, Freudberg graduated from Syracuse University with a speech and dramatic arts degree. In 1971, she began working at the Children's Television Workshop, producer of Sesame Street. Atypist at first, she began a production assistant and finally a writer.
She wrote several Sesame Street books.
Judy Freudberg is survived by two sisters and a brother.
