The beloved television special “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” first aired on this day, December 6, 1964, on NBC. Now a classic, this stop-motion animation was produced by the iconic Rankin & Bass team and narrated by Burl Ives.
The show was based on the Johnny Marks song “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer,” which has lyrics from the 1939 poem written by Johnny Marks’ brother-in-law, Robert L. May.
“Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” was written by Romeo Muller, directed by Larry Roemer and Kizo Nagashima, produced by Arthur Rankin, Jr. and Jules Bass, with cinematography by Tadahito Mochinaga.
