Romeo Muller

Writer • Actor

Birth Date: August 7, 1928

Death Date: December 30, 1992 — 64 years old

Birth Place: New York, New York

It was always starting to feel a lot like Christmas in the festive TV world of writer-producer Romeo Muller. During a more than 20-year collaboration with kidpic producers Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, Muller penned such perennial TV Christmas fare as "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (NBC, 1964), "The Little Drummer Boy" (NBC, 1967), "Frosty the Snowman" (CBS, 1969), and "Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" (ABC, 1970).

Some other Muller-scripted Yuletide fare for Rankin-Bass Productions had less permanent impact on kid culture: "Nestor, the Long-Eared Christmas Donkey" (ABC, 1977), "Jack Frost" (NBC, 1980), "Pinocchio's Christmas" (ABC, 1980), "The Leprechaun's Christmas Gold" (ABC, 1981) and two less-than-inevitable sequels: "The Little Drummer Boy, Book II" (NBC, 1976) wherein the titular character joins forces with the Three Wise Men to "spread the word," and "Frosty's Winter Wonderland (ABC, 1979) in which the previously carefree snowperson takes a wife.

Rankin-Bass Prods. did not neglect other legal holidays thanks to Muller's teleplays for "Here Comes Peter Cottontail" (CBS, 1976), "Rudolph's Shiny New Year" (ABC, 1976), and "The Easter Bunny Is Comin' to Town" (ABC, 1977). He also wrote many other children's TV specials, several Saturday morning cartoon series including "The Jackson Five" (ABC, 1971), and two feature films: the lavish live action 1973 musical, "Marco," featuring Desi Arnaz Jr. as Marco Polo and Zero Mostel as Kublai Khan; and "Pinocchio's Christmas," a 1988 puppet production.

Muller worked as an independent writer-producer during and after his association with Rankin-Bass. His credits include "Puff the Magic Dragon" (CBS, 1978), "Puff and the Incredible Mr. Nobody" (CBS, 1982), "The Wish That Changed Christmas" (CBS, 1991), and "Noel" (NBC, 1992). The latter was Muller's final Christmas calling card. It was narrated by Charlton Heston and aired just a few weeks before Muller's death which occurred, appropriately enough, during the holiday season between Christmas and New Year's.