Jim Henson

Known for DirectingBorn 1936-09-24Died 1990-05-16Greenville, Mississippi, USA

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, actor, animator, creative producer, 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 puppets for Sesame Street (1969). Born in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in both Leland, Mississippi, and University Park, Maryland, Henson began developing puppets in high school. He created Sam and Friends (1955–1961), a short-form comedy television program on WRC-TV, while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park, in collaboration with fellow student Jane Nebel. Henson and Nebel co-founded Muppets, Inc. – now The Jim Henson Company – in 1958, and married less than a year later in 1959. Henson graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in home economics. In 1969, Henson joined the children's television program Sesame Street (1969–present) where he helped to develop Muppet characters for the series. He and his creative team also appeared on the first season of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (1975–present). He produced the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show (1976–1981) during this period. Henson revolutionized the way puppetry is captured and presented in video media, and he won fame for his characters – particularly Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, and the characters on Sesame Street. During the later years of his life, he founded the Jim Henson Foundation and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He won the Emmy Award twice for his involvement in The Storyteller (1987–1988) and The Jim Henson Hour (1989). Henson died in New York City from toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. At the time of his death, he was in negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company, but talks fell through after his death. He was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was named a Disney Legend in 2011. Description above from the Wikipedia article Jim Henson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.Read more

Movies & web series

Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music

An Evening with Jim Henson and Frank Oz

Wow, You're A Cartoonist!

Dolly

Sesame Street: Learning About Numbers

The King of Eight

Sam and Friends

The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street

50 Years of Television: A Golden Celebration

Muppet Video: Rowlf's Rhapsodies with the Muppets

The Jim Henson Hour

Mickey's 50

The Muppet Show Pitch Reel

Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi

Sesame Street Pitch Reel

Free to Be... a Family

Muppets Magic from 'The Ed Sullivan Show!'

AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs: America's Greatest Music in the Movies

Julie on Sesame Street

Sesame Street: Bert & Ernie's Word Play

Dog City

Limbo: The Organized Mind

Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters

Reading Rainbow

The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show

The Storyteller

Studio DC: Almost Live

Jim Henson Idea Man

Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Children's Songs and Stories with the Muppets

Night of 100 Stars II

The Orson Welles Show

The Muppet Show

Out to Lunch

Muppet Babies

Pure Goldie

Dinosaurs

The Muppets on Puppets

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade

Inside the Labyrinth

The Wonderful World of Disney

The World of Jim Henson

The Muppet Christmas Carol

Christmas Eve on Sesame Street

The First Snow of Fraggle Rock