1936-1990
Latest News: Muppet Creator Jim Henson Featured in New Documentary
His creations are known around the world. Now the man behind the Muppets is getting a retrospective moment in the spotlight in the new documentary Jim Henson Idea Man, now streaming on Disney+. Henson died in 1990 at age 53 but remains perhaps the most famous American TV puppeteer. The new documentary explores his inner life and creative innovations.
“It’s a shame that we lost him when we did because what he’d be doing with tech today would be very exciting, and he probably would’ve pushed that medium along in a way that we would recognize,” director Ron Howard said. Jim Henson Idea Man premiered at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this month.
Watch Jim Henson Idea Man on Disney+
Who Was Jim Henson?
Puppeteer Jim Henson was the man behind the Muppets. He started creating his signature characters, including Kermit the Frog, during a TV gig in college. The Muppets reached a new level of fame as stars on Sesame Street, a popular kids’ show that launched in 1969, with Henson voicing and operating Ernie and Kermit, among others. Next, he created The Muppet Show in 1976, and the program for all ages launched several films, including 1979’s The Muppet Movie that Henson directed. The puppeteer received several accolades for his work, including Emmys, Grammys, and a Peabody Award. Henson died of pneumonia at age 53 in May 1990.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: James Maury Henson
BORN: September 24, 1936
DIED: May 16, 1990
BIRTHPLACE: Greenville, Mississippi
SPOUSE: Jane Henson (1959-1990)
CHILDREN: Lisa, Cheryl, Brian, John, and Heather
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Libra
Early Years
James Maury Henson, better known as Jim Henson, was born on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi. He spent his early years in nearby Leland with his parents, Betty and Paul Henson, and his older brother, Paul. The family moved to the Hyattsville, Maryland, outside of Washington D.C., when Jim was in fifth grade.
At a young age, Jim was drawn to the arts. His maternal grandmother was a painter, quilter, and needleworker who encouraged his creative passions, including his puppetry. Well before his teen years, Henson was performing puppetry for audiences, including his fellow Cub Scouts.
His youth was also spent toying with different visual mediums, including television, which he adored. TV puppeteers Burr Tillstrom, of the show Kukla, Fran and Ollie, as well as Bil and Cora Baird, from Life with Snarky Parker, became major creative influences on young Henson.
At Northwestern High School, Henson joined a puppet club, and it wasn’t long before he had his first dalliance with televised puppetry. In 1954, he began performing with his puppets on a Washington-based local TV program on Saturday mornings.
Creating the Muppets
By his freshman year at the University of Maryland, in 1955, Henson had scored a five-minute reoccurring bit, Sam and Friends, on a local NBC affiliate. He enlisted a fellow University of Maryland student named Jane Nebel to help with the program, where the Muppets, including an early version of Kermit the Frog, first appeared. Henson came up with the name to describe the characters that were a cross between a marionette and a hand puppet. Sam and Friends won a local Emmy Award in 1958.
The year 1958 was also when the young puppeteer founded Muppet Inc., today known as The Jim Henson Company, with Nebel. The Muppets’ popularity continued to grow, and the company provided a vehicle for additional work and future creative pursuits. Soon, the Muppets were making appearances in TV commercials, including one for Wilkins Coffee.
One of Henson’s puppet characters was Wheel Stealer, who snatched a family’s snacks on a food commercial and later chomped on an IBM computer in a TV ad. Wheel was an early incarnation of the beloved blue Cookie Monster.
The first Muppet to gain national exposure, Rowlf the Dog, went from making appearances in Purina commercials to playing a sidekick on The Jimmy Dean Show in 1963. Rowlf was brought to life with the assistance of puppet builder Don Sahlin and puppeteer Frank Oz. Members of Henson’s growing puppeteering team also appeared on The Today Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. Around the same time, Henson began experimenting with as a director of short films, including 1965’s Academy Award–nominated Time Piece.
Sesame Street
In 1969, Henson teamed up with Children’s Television Workshop to produce the now-classic PBS children’s show Sesame Street. The program was the brainchild of TV producer Joan Ganz Cooney, who wanted to entertain and educate preschool age kids particularly those in low-income urban households.
As the show’s theme song goes, Henson swept “the clouds away” with various original characters, including Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Snuffulupagus, and Elmo. Between his puppetry and animated shorts, Henson perfected his gift for engaging children and making learning fun on Sesame Street.
Among others, Henson voiced and operated Ernie, earning his first Grammy nomination for the character’s famous song “Rubber Duckie,” and Kermit the Frog. “I suppose that he’s an alter ego,” Henson once said of Kermit. “But he’s a little snarkier than I am—slightly wise. Kermit says things I hold myself back from saying.”
Millions of children tuned in daily to watch Sesame Street. Beyond fundamental concepts like the alphabet and numbers, the Emmy-winning show embraced diversity of many kinds and explored social dynamics.
The Muppet Show
Henson’s even bigger claim to TV fame came in the 1970s, with the debut of The Muppet Show. Surprisingly, Henson had a challenging time getting the show, geared to adults as well as children, financed in the United States. Eventually, he found the support needed with London-based TV producer Lord Lew Grade. In 1975, at Grade’s ATV Studios, Henson and his crew created Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal, Gonzo, Scooter, and the rest of The Muppet Show ensemble.
The hit series, with Kermit as the host, premiered in 1976. Soon after, superstar guest hosts came aboard, including Liza Minnelli, Elton John, Vincent Price, Rita Moreno, and Steve Martin. Henson’s show reached a staggering 235 million viewers in more than 100 countries and earned four Emmy Awards, include Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series in 1978. The next year, Henson won his first of five Grammy Awards as the soundtrack to his TV show captured the Best Children’s Recording trophy. The show wrapped in 1981 but later sparked an animated TV spinoff, Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, that garnered four consecutive Emmys for Outstanding Animated Program.
Henson also didn’t limit his TV puppetry to his original Muppets. In the 1980s, he developed the TV shows Fraggle Rock, an NBC variety show The Jim Henson Hour, and Jim Henson’s The Storyteller. Both The Jim Henson Hour, which Henson directed, and The Storyteller earned the famous puppeteer Emmy Awards, bringing his total to three. In 1987, Henson’s achievements on the small screen earned him a place in the Television Academy Hall of Fame.
Movies
The Muppet Show spawned movies, too. The first was 1979’s The Muppet Movie followed by 1981’s The Great Muppet Caper, which marked Henson’s directorial debut for a feature film. Three years later, The Muppets Take Manhattan released. (Since their creator’s death, Henson’s characters have continued to appear in movies, most recently 2011’s The Muppets, starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams, and the 2014 sequel Muppets Most Wanted, with Ricky Gervais and Tina Fey.)
Other Henson-directed movies followed, including 1982’s The Dark Crystal and 1986’s Labyrinth, which was produced by George Lucas and starred David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly. The Dark Crystal was particular noteworthy for its groundbreaking mix of puppetry and animatronics. Henson also created the animatronic costumes for the 1990 live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie.
Wife and Children
Henson was married to his wife, Jane Henson, for 31 years, though the couple separated toward the end of Jim’s life. The pair initially met while students at the University of Maryland when she was still Jane Nebel. Jim asked for her help with his first TV program, Sam and Friends, in 1955. They continued working together for many years through The Jim Henson Company, which they founded together.
Their wedding was in May 1959, and Jim and Jane quickly began having children. Between 1960 and 1965, they welcomed two girls, Lisa and Cheryl, followed by two boys, Brian and John. Their youngest, a daughter named Heather, was born in 1970.
Eventually, Jim and Jane’s marriage broke down. They separated in 1986 but never legally divorced. Still, Jane was integral in continuing her estranged husband’s legacy after his death. She established the Jim Henson Legacy, dedicated to preserving and perpetuating the late puppeteer’s contributions to the world, in 1992. She also helped run The Jim Henson Foundation, founded in 1982 by Jim to support American puppet theater. Jane died in April 2013.
All five of the couple’s children have been involved in the family business. Lisa currently serves as CEO of The Jim Henson Company, as Brian, Cheryl, and Heather are on its board of directors. John was also a board member until his death in 2014. Like their father, Brian, John, and Heather became puppeteers. Lisa and Brian have also taken up the family mantle of creating television shows and movies, primarily as producers and directors. In addition to her role in The Jim Henson Company, Cheryl is the president of The Jim Henson Foundation.
Death
Henson’s last project was Muppet*Vision 3D, a multimedia attraction installed at Disney theme parks in California and Florida. The endeavor wasn’t expected to be the famous puppeteer’s swan song, but on May 16, 1990, following a brief and unexpected bout of streptococcus pneumonia, Henson died at age 53 at a New York City hospital.
His moving yet celebratory funeral included a musical puppet performance. Big Bird himself walked in to pay his respect and sing “It’s Not Easy Being Green.” The supersized yellow puppet also expressed thanks to Kermit the Frog, often attributed as Henson’s Muppet alter ego.
As young Robin the Frog, Kermit’s nephew, so eloquently said in a Muppets tribute to Henson shortly after his passing, “This Jim Henson may be gone, but maybe he’s still here too, inside us, believing in us.”
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