Jim Henson

Jim Henson (1936-1990) created his first puppets as a teenager in Washington, D.C., and was soon building puppets for a local television station. By college, he was performing a live five-minute broadcast every night. He called his felt-covered foam rubber creations the Muppets and he endowed them with lifelike human expressions unprecedented in the ancient art of puppetry. In the 1960s, Henson's Muppets, led by Kermit the Frog, won a national audience through their appearances on television variety shows. The Muppets made their most lasting impact on the children's educational program Sesame Street. The show has become an integral part of childhood in the United States and around the world, and Henson's characters -- Miss Piggy, Big Bird, the Cookie Monster, Bert and Ernie, and Oscar the Grouch -- are household names. In addition to their appearances on Sesame Street, the Muppets starred in their own prime time television program and a successful series of feature films. Still at the peak of his powers when he died suddenly at age 53, he remains the most famous and influential puppeteer in history. In this podcast, recorded at the Academy of Achievement's 1987 Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, he discusses his career as a puppeteer and shares his appreciation for the allied arts of puppetry and motion pictures.