On the Sunday, April 19, episode of the podcast 'Nostalgia Tonight with Joe Sibilia,' Linda Weinrib opened up about a deeply complicated relationship with her father
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NEED TO KNOW
- Lennie Weinrib’s daughter said she only knew her father as a face on a screen for years before they met in person
- Weinrib was best known for his role on the 1960s kids’ show H.R. Pufnstuf
- In a new podcast, his daughter Linda recounts their relationship and eventual meeting when she was a teenager
For years, the daughter of Lennie Weinrib — best known for his role on the 1960s kid's show H.R. Pufnstuf — said she only knew her father as a face on a screen.
On the Sunday, April 19, episode of the podcast Nostalgia Tonight with Joe Sibilia on AM 970 The Answer, Linda Weinrib opened up about a deeply complicated relationship with her father, who voiced the eponymous H.R. Pufnstuf in the live-action children's puppet show that was originally broadcast in 1969 and later aired on syndication.
Weinrib’s daughter said their relationship was constrained long before she was born. “His mother was very, very controlling — very protective of him — and she didn’t want him to be in a relationship,” Linda recalled.
That influence extended to decisions about her very existence when his girlfriend — Linda's mom — got pregnant. “[His parents] just said, ‘Let her have that baby, but you’re going to keep your distance.’ "
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As a result, Linda grew up without a relationship with her father — instead watching him from afar as he built a successful career in television and voice acting. While he entertained audiences nationwide, she said her connection to him remained limited to what she could see on TV.
"When I was younger, my mother would put the TV on for me — especially Saturday Morning cartoons, and she would say, 'That's your daddy,' " Linda recalled.
That distance lingered into her teenage years, when Linda finally gathered the courage to approach him at a farmer's market in Los Angeles at age 15. But even then, the reunion came with conditions. According to Linda, Weinrib set firm boundaries that kept their relationship carefully controlled and largely out of the public eye, telling her, "Well, I'm gonna set up some rules, because I don't really know you … I'm gonna put up my hand, and if I say stop with my hand, that means don't walk over to me and don't talk to me. If I welcome you and I wave my hand to you, then you can come forward."
Despite the challenges, progress eventually came. Over time, Linda said she was able to build a relationship with her father, and he took her to Paramount Studios.
“He introduces me as his daughter. That was a huge milestone — huge, because he’s acknowledging me,” she said on the podcast. “I was a big secret because up until then, nobody knew about me.”
Later in life, however, Weinrib once again became a distant figure — this time not by design, but due to his sudden disappearance.
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Writer and historian Mark Evanier recalled on the podcast the confusion that followed when the actor abruptly vanished from the lives of those closest to him.
“I hadn’t talked to Lennie in a while, and I got a call from his agent saying, ‘Have you talked to Lennie lately?’… ‘I haven’t talked to Lennie in about three weeks, and I left messages a few days later that people were trying to hire him,’ ” Evanier said.
Concern quickly turned into surprise when the truth emerged just days later.
“Lennie has moved to Chile,” Evanier added.
Even Linda was left searching for answers as her father seemingly disappeared without warning. According to Evanier, the move was driven by both personal and financial struggles, including fallout from an alleged embezzlement situation that deeply affected Weinrib.
Weinrib opted to retire, Evanier said on the podcast.
He died on June 28, 2006, at the age of 71, in a Santiago, Chile hospital after suffering a stroke.
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