Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for 49 years at "Sesame Street," died in Connecticut after living with dystonia. He was 85. Sesame Workshop announced his death on their site, calling him an "artistic genius" whose "legacy here at Sesame
Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer who played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for 49 years at “Sesame Street,” died in Connecticut after living with dystonia. He was 85.
Spinney was with “Sesame Street” from the beginning in 1969, and continued working as Big Bird and Oscar through 2018, though he stopped performing inside the Big Bird costume in 2015 when it became too physically demanding. He first met Jim Henson in 1962 at a puppeteering festival, but the idea of working for him did not come about until they reconnected at another festival in 1969.
Before joining “Sesame Street,” Spinney worked at “Bozo’s Big Top” in Boston following his service in the Air Force, which he joined at 19. He portrayed several characters including Kookie the Boxing Kangaroo and Mr. Lion, though he eventually left the show, winding up in Salt Lake City, performing at the fateful festival where he met Henson.
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