On this day in history, the master of puppets was born.
Jim Henson was born in Mississippi in 1936. After spending his childhood in the South, Henson’s family moved north to University Park, Maryland, in the late 1940s. From an early age, Henson showed an interest in visual arts, especially after his family got its first television.
Through television, he was exposed to ventriloquism and puppetry, notably the work of Edgar Bergen and Bil Baird. When Henson enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, he took a puppetry class, where he met his future wife, Jane Nebel.
Throughout the late 1950s, Henson worked in local television as a puppeteer. He and Nebel eventually created their own television program, “Sam and Friends,” which featured an early version of Kermit.
Henson pioneered approaches to puppetry for television, including the use of different materials and camera techniques that allowed the puppets to appear more expressive on screen.
Throughout his decadeslong career, Henson became internationally known for his puppetry and visual artistry. His best-known work included characters created for “Sesame Street,” “The Muppet Show” and films such as “Labyrinth” and “The Dark Crystal.”
The Jim Henson Creature Shop continues to create practical effects, animatronics and puppetry for film and television projects following Henson’s death in 1990.
