“It puts everything into a harmonious totality that I just love.”
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Jim Henson
James Maury Henson was an American puppeteer, creative producer, filmmaker and director who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating Fraggle Rock (1983–1987) and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986), as well as creating the Muppets for Sesame Street (1969–present).
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entertainment · American puppeteer (1936–1990) · television director · film director · film producer · voice actor · marionetteist · actor · screenwriter · animator · television producer · director · also Jim Henson, Henson
Born 24 September 1936 · Died 16 May 1990 · Q191037
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Jim Henson - McGarry's Sausages featuring Kermit and Mack (1964)
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A lot of people build very stiff puppets—you can barely move the things—and you can get very little expression out of a character that you can barely move. Your hand has a lot of flexibility to it, and what you want to do is to build a puppet that can reflect all that flexibility.
2026· 4 entries
“A lot of people build very stiff puppets—you can barely move the things—and you can get very little expression out of a character that you can barely move. Your hand has a lot of flexibility to it, and what you want to do is to build a puppet that can reflect all that flexibility.”
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Public attention spiked: 8,582 Wikipedia readers in one day, 4.1× the usual 2,079, with 2 article edits. Editors noted: Illness and death Fixed typo
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Reported net worth: $20M.
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2024· 1 entry
Henson was portrayed by Nicholas Braun in the biographical dramedy Saturday Night, which chronicles the production of the first episode of Saturday Night Live
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2021· 2 entries
A blue plaque was unveiled at Jim Henson's former Hampstead home, 50 Downshire Hill NW3 to honor his artistic creativity
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Snopes rated the claim “Disney added a content warning to Jim Henson's "The Muppet Show" on the Disney+ streaming platform.” Mostly True.
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2020· 1 entry
The 1979 song "Rainbow Connection" from The Muppet Movie (performed by Henson as Kermit) was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the
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2019· 1 entry
The YouTube channel Defunctland released a six-part miniseries on the life and legacy of Jim Henson
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2018· 1 entry
The American Banjo Museum inducted Henson into its hall of fame, for his positive portrayal of the banjo in his shows and in The Muppet Movie
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2015· 1 entry
A new genus and species of Cretaceous-aged fossil frog from Canada, Hensonbatrachus kermiti, was named in honor of Henson and Kermit the Frog
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2011· 3 entries
Which what would have been Henson's 75th birthday, Mississippi town Leland renamed a local bridge to "The Rainbow Connection" to honor Henson and his work
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Jim Henson posthumously received the Disney Legends Award
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Awarded Disney Legends (2011).
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2007· 2 entries
Released album “Fraggle Rockin’: A Collection”.
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To have been a wing honoring Henson
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2006· 1 entry
The University of Maryland introduced 50 statues of its school mascot, Testudo the Terrapin, with various designs chosen by different sponsoring groups
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2004· 1 entry
The Muppets and the Bear in the Big Blue House properties were sold to Disney
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2003· 2 entries
On what would have been Henson's 67th birthday
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Jim Henson was honored at the annual Norsk Høstfest in Minot, North Dakota
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1992· 1 entry
His ashes were scattered near Taos, New Mexico
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1991· 1 entry
Awarded Hollywood Walk of Fame (1991).
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1990· 9 entries
Awarded Inkpot Award (1990).
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Henson's public memorial service was conducted in Manhattan at the Cathedral of St
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Died 1990-05-16.
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“There's great value in being able to step back and laugh at yourself, at life and at attitudes. Laughter helps you put everything into perspective.”
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“I suppose that he's an alter ego. But he's a little snarkier than I am - slightly wise. Kermit says things I hold myself back from saying.”
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“Many creative people have a certain degree of dissatisfaction with the status quo, the established way. If you look at things differently, you are thought of as 'different.' In turn, 'different' people are thought to be 'mad.”
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“I think it's good to be your own person. But individuality is a mixed blessing. People who are 'different' are isolated.”
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“I always felt that I was not a part of things in general. I've always been outside of things.”
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“Even as a kid, I felt isolated. Isolation makes you sensitive. As a kid, I felt I was the only person who was like that. But there's a good side to isolation. It makes you sensitive, and sensitivity is part of the creative process.”
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1989· 1 entry
Awarded Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series for The Jim Henson Hour (1989).
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1984· 1 entry
Henson traveled to Moscow, where he made a film about Sergei Obraztsov
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1982· 2 entries
Henson founded the Jim Henson Foundation to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States
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Henson co-founded Henson International Television with Peter Orton and Sophie Turner Laing as his partners
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1980· 2 entries
Studied at University of Maryland, Bachelor of Science (1980).
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And Paar took David Letterman over to see it during an appearance on Late Night which taped across the hall – it was not until Jimmy Fallon, host of the studio's current tenant The Tonight Show, brought it up that NBC of
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1979· 2 entries
“He can say things I hold back.”
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After ITV commissioned the Muppet series, filmed at Elstree Studios
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1978· 1 entry
Began performing Kermit the Frog six months after Henson's death
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1976· 1 entry
Believing that Muppets would appeal only to a child audience
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1974· 1 entry
Brian Jay Jones reports in Jim Henson, the Biography, "...on July 30 [1974], [Henson] drove to Elmira, New York, to pay his respects to Roberts and her husband. 'I find this inspired material very beautiful,' Jim said of the Seth Material. 'It puts everything into a harmonious totality that I just love.'"
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1971· 1 entry
The University of Maryland's National Residence Hall Honorary chapter was founded as the Jim Henson Chapter
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1969· 2 entries
Henson joined the children's television program Sesame Street (1969–present) where he helped to develop Muppet characters for the series
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Television producer Joan Ganz Cooney and her staff at the Children's Television Workshop were impressed by the quality and creativity of the Henson-led team, so they asked Henson and staff to work full-time on Sesame Str
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1964· 1 entry
And his family moved to Greenwich, Connecticut, where they lived until 1971, when they moved to Bedford, New York
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1963· 1 entry
Henson and his wife moved to New York City where the newly formed Muppets, Inc
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1961· 1 entry
And puppet performer Frank Oz in 1963 to replace her
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1960· 2 entries
With a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics
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They had five children: Lisa (born 1960), Cheryl (born 1961), Brian (born 1963), John (1965–2014), and Heather Henson (born 1970).
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1959· 1 entry
In a small ceremony at Jane's family home
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1958· 1 entry
And married less than a year later in 1959
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1954· 1 entry
Studied at Northwestern High School (1954).
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1936· 2 entries
In Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two children of Betty Marcella (née Brown, 1904–1972) and Paul Ransom Henson Sr
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Born 1936-09-24.
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