Jim Henson

The Wizard of Oz (1939) was one of his favorite films.

His first television character was called Pierre, the French Rat. It began life as a comic strip drawn by Henson for a high-school publication in 1954.

Jim Henson never thought that he would make a name of himself in puppetry; it was merely a way of getting himself on television. The vehicle that achieved it was Sam and Friends (1955), a late-night puppet show that was on after the 11:00 news in Washington DC. It proved to be very popular and inspired Jim to continue using puppets for his work. He made many commercials, developing the signature humor that Henson Productions is known for. A key reason for the success of his puppets is that Jim realized he didn't need to hide puppeteers behind a structure when they were in front of a camera. All he had to do was instruct the camera operators to focus on the puppets and keep the puppeteers out of the frame. This allowed the puppets to dominate the image and make them more lifelike. This work on puppets and television would lead to separate projects that had different goals.

Along with Frank Oz, painted an unsightly configuration of pipes in his dressing room of The Tonight Show Starring Jack Parr (1957) into Muppet designs late one night in 1964. Oz and Henson also incorporated various feathers, fur and fabric swatches into their unusual work. Today, the studio maintains the pipes as a specially preserved historical exhibit.

The first one was his work on the The Jimmy Dean Show (1963) with the character Rowlf the Dog, the oldest clearly identified character that Henson Productions still uses. This show provided an income that allowed Jim to work on a pet project.

That project was Time Piece (1965), a surrealistic short about time which was nominated for best live-action short Oscar.

Henson shot to prominence when he was approached to use his muppets for the revolutionary educational show Song of the Cloud Forest (1969). The show was a smash hit and his characters have become staples on public television. Unforetunately, this also led to Henson being typecast as only an entertainer for children.

It was this circumstance that encouraged him to develop a variety show format that had the kind of sophisticated humor that "Song of the Cloud Forest (1969)" didn't work with. No American broadcaster was interested, but British producer Lew Grade was.

Had a hit single singing "Rubber Duckie" as Ernie. "Rubber Duckie" entered the Billboard Top 40 chart for pop/rock in August 1970 and stayed on the chart for seven weeks, peaking at number 16. The 'famous' rubber-duck-squeaking solo in the original version of the song (for the very first "Sesame Street album") is squeaked by the song's writer, Jeff Moss. When the Song of the Cloud Forest (1969) cast appeared in concert with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the rubber duck was considered a percussion instrument. Apparently unwilling to pay musicians to play a 'second instrument,' duck squeaking was limited to the percussion section when the cast sang this song with the Pops (with Big Bird conducting).

Founded the "UNIMA Citations of Excellence" in 1973 to provide a peer-judged award for the art of puppetry in North America. In 1966, Jim Henson had previously founded (with other American puppeteers) the USA chapter of the Union Internationale de la Marionette (UNIMA) - the world's oldest international theatre arts organization, and served as the USA Chapter's founding chaiman.

He sought to disprove that by being part of the initial crew of Saturday Night Live (1975), but his style and that of the creative staff simply didn't jibe.

This led to The Muppet Show (1976). It initially struggled both in the ratings and in the search for guest stars, but in the second season it became a smash hit and would eventually become the most widely watched series in television history.

Hungry for a new challenge, Henson made The Muppet Movie (1979), defying the popular industry opinion that his characters would never work in a movie.

The most successful TV work in the 1980s was Fraggle Rock (1983), a fantasy series specifically designed to appeal to as many cultural groups as possible. During this time he also established the Creature Shop, a puppet studio that became renowned for being as brilliant with puppetry as ILM was at special effects.

The film became a hit and spawned a series of features which included the moody fantasy The Dark Crystal (1982), which was a drastic and bold departure from the amiable tone of his previous work.

Biography in "The Scribner Encyclopedia of American Lives," Volume Two, 1986-1990, pp. 413-415. New York: Scribners/Simon & Schuster, 1999.

Henson's final televised appearance was on The Arsenio Hall Show (1989), just 12 days before his death.

When he died all too soon in 1990, he was indisputably one of the geniuses of puppetry.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze (1991) was dedicated to his memory.

Upon his death it was said that Rowlf the Dog would never be used again, for this was Henson's signature character. As a memorial of sorts Rowlf is seen in a few shots of both Muppet Treasure Island (1996) and Muppets from Space (1999) both times performed by Bill Barretta. However, out of respect for Henson, Rowlf did not speak. It was not until The Muppets (2011) that the character had dialogue (spoken by Barretta).

Henson's alma mater, University of Maryland, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003.

Was pictured on a USA 37¢ commemorative stamp issued 28 September 2005, which was issued on a single souvenir sheet honoring "Jim Henson, the man behind the Muppets". The souvenir sheet contained 10 additional 37¢ stamps featuring the following Muppet characters: Kermit the Frog; 'Fozzie Bear'; Sam the Eagle; Miss Piggy; Steve Whitmire & Dave Goelz; The Swedish Chef; Animal; Dave Goelz & Beaker; Rowlf; and Dave Goelz & Camilla.