Rod Hull (13 August 1935 - 18 March 1999) was a popular entertainer on British television in the 1970s and 1980s. He rarely appeared without Emu, a mute, highly aggressive arm-length puppet of such a bird. He died in 1999 after falling from the roof of his house, while trying to adjust the TV aerial.
Hull died in 1999, at the age of 63, after falling from the roof of his house in East Sussex while trying to adjust the television aerial. He and his son had been watching the Champions League fixture between Manchester United and Inter Milan (ref) when the picture lost quality.
Prior to Hull's demise, Lee and Herring had planned to revive their "Rod Hull" character for their contemporary series, This Morning with Richard Not Judy, but despite filming several sketches — in which the character would die after performing a pointless stunt — the footage was disposed of.
Upon Hull's death, Michael Parkinson reminisced that he had found him to be "a very charming, intelligent and sensitive man — quite unlike the Emu." He observed that the puppet "was the dark side of Rod's personality, and very funny, provided it was not on top of you."
Hull married twice and had five children. His son Toby brought Emu out of retirement for the first time since his father's death during the 2003 pantomime season, appearing in Cinderella at Windsor's Theatre Royal.
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