Officer Clemmons

- Blurb -

The intimate debut memoir by the man known to the world as Mister Rogers' Neighborhood' s Officer Clemmons, who made history as the first African American actor to have a recurring role on a children' s television program. When he created the role of Officer Clemmons on the award-winning television series Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, Francois Clemmons made history as the first African American actor to have a recurring role on a children' s program. A new, wide world opened for Clemmons--but one that also required him to make painful personal choices and sacrifices. Officer Clemmons details Clemmons' s incredible life story, beginning with his early years in Alabama and Ohio, marked by family trauma and loss, through his studies as a music major at Oberlin College, where Clemmons began to investigate and embrace his homosexuality, to a chance encounter with Fred Rogers that changed the whole course of both men' s lives, leading to a deep, spiritual friendship and mentorship spanning nearly forty years. From New York to Russia, Berlin to California, Grammy Award-winner Clemmons has performed for audiences around the world and remains a beloved figure. Evocative and intimate, and buoyed by its author' s own vivacious, inimitable energy, Officer Clemmons chronicles a historical and enlightening life and career of a man who has brought joy to millions of adults and children, across generations and borders.