History Creator / JimHenson

While ''Sesame Street'' still runs strongly, as it was not affected by the sales and resales of The Jim Henson Company and its properties that persisted into the TurnOfTheMillennium, the ''Muppet Show'' cast had a spottier record via all the turmoil. ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', which set to update the concept of ''The Muppet Show'' for the 1990s by introducing new characters, a new host, a new setting, and new skits, only lasted for two seasons before falling into obscurity. New film productions were largely overlooked. Other productions by the Jim Henson Company and its performers, ranging from ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' and ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' to ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/DogCity'', more successfully continued Henson's legacy with new characters for new generations of fans. His legacy also lives on through the countless generations of people who grew up with his work, many of them future puppeteers for both The Jim Henson Company in Los Angeles and Sesame Workshop.

While ''Sesame Street'' still runs strongly, as it was not affected by the sales and resales of The Jim Henson Company and its properties that persisted into the TurnOfTheMillennium, the ''Muppet Show'' cast had a spottier record via all the turmoil. ''Series/MuppetsTonight'', which set to update the concept of ''The Muppet Show'' for the 1990s by introducing new characters, a new host, a new setting, and new skits, only lasted for two seasons before falling into obscurity. New film productions were largely overlooked. Other productions by the Jim Henson Company and its performers, ranging from ''Series/{{Dinosaurs}}'' and ''Series/{{Farscape}}'' to ''Series/BearInTheBigBlueHouse'' and ''WesternAnimation/DogCity'', more successfully continued Henson's legacy with new characters for new generations of fans.

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 -- May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, filmmaker, voice actor and actor born in Greenville, Mississippi. Highly revered as one of the greatest puppeteers in modern history, Henson was the creator of the world-famous [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppet]] characters, and used the art of puppetry to reach heights of popular success and artistic acclaim undreamed of by anyone in his field before or since.

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 -- May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, filmmaker, voice actor and actor born in Greenville, Mississippi. Highly regarded as one of the greatest puppeteers in modern history, Henson was the creator of the world-famous [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppet]] characters, and used the art of puppetry to reach heights of popular success and artistic acclaim undreamed of by anyone in his field before or since.

Jim Henson died suddenly of toxic shock syndrome following a severe strep throat infection on May 16, 1990 -- the same day as Creator/SammyDavisJr, by sheer coincidence. At the time, he was negotiating with Creator/{{Disney}} to turn over the rights to his characters so that he could focus on production and performing, and did not wish to visit the hospital (his wife Jane would later state that the refusal was likely due to his desire not to be a bother to people). He was only 53 years old. In a sense, this was the EndOfAnAge for the Muppets.

''Series/SesameStreet'' launched [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters dozens of characters]] who are now a part of the worldwide consciousness, including Jim's own characters Ernie and Guy Smiley. The program would also solidify the core performers he'd work with for years to come. Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Caroll Spinney, Fran Brill, and later David Goelz, Steve Whitmire and Kevin Clash all performed characters too numerous to mention here that are just as memorable as Henson's own. In fact, Henson and Oz, whether performing Bert and Ernie, or Kermit and Fozzie Bear, or Kermit and Miss Piggy, or the Swedish Chef (Henson did the voice and Oz did the hands) rank as one of the most prolific comedy duos in television history, and barely ever appeared on screen as themselves. Unfortunately, the success of ''Sesame Street'' caused a lot of people to see the Muppets as strictly "kid's stuff," a notion that Henson worked to dispel (with varying degrees of success) for the rest of his life.

* DiedDuringProduction: One of the most heartbreaking examples in recent memory. How devastating was this? After Henson's passing, Disney canceled the Muppet sale deal with Jim Henson Productions ([[HilariousInHindsight for over a decade]]), many projects he had begun working on or was in the middle of creating were left unfinished forever, a primetime special was created to honor his memory, and many of his characters (including [[Franchise/TheMuppets Rowlf the Dog]] and [[Series/SesameStreet Ernie]]) [[TheVoiceless went silent for years]] before [[TheOtherDarrin finding new performers]] (only a handful of Muppets, like Kermit, were immediately recast).

* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: Perhaps the poster child for how well this can work; in fact, his daughter Cheryl would recall that he suffered from she calls "creative restlessness." From his early successes to the day he died, Henson was constantly trying to get new projects off the ground and expand his artistic possibilities. Many of his associates speculated that this was due to his brother Paul's death in a car accident, with such a vivid demonstration of how suddenly a person's life can end making him want to do as much as he possibly could with whatever time he had.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Henson was well appreciated before, but after his death, his reputation as the master puppeteer and television producer cemented fully, to the point where previously underappreciated projects of his like ''Labyrinth'' and ''The DarkCrystal'' became regarded as CultClassics.

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Henson was well appreciated before, but after his death, his reputation as the master puppeteer and television producer cemented fully.

** And on a straighter note, the banjo-playing member of [[https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/The_Country_Trio the Country Trio]] bears his likeness, and when he performed him, he used his regular voice. You can see the character in the image between him and the blue frog. He was often joined by two Muppet doppelgängers of Frank Oz (on bass) and Jerry Nelson (on guitar).
* AuthorExistenceFailure: One of the most heartbreaking examples in recent memory. How devastating was this? After Henson's passing, Disney canceled the Muppet sale deal with Jim Henson Productions ([[HilariousInHindsight for over a decade]]), many projects he had begun working on or was in the middle of creating were left unfinished forever, a primetime special was created to honor his memory, and many of his characters (including [[Franchise/TheMuppets Rowlf the Dog]] and [[Series/SesameStreet Ernie]]) [[TheVoiceless went silent for years]] before [[TheOtherDarrin finding new performers]] (only a handful of Muppets, like Kermit, were immediately recast).

* NiceGuy: Never did Jim speak an unkind word about anyone, nor did he ever lose his temper; friends, family, and acquaintances alike can all vouch that he was a genuinely friendly, soft-spoken, and understanding human being.
** When Carroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch) was performing at a puppetry festival in Salt Lake City in the mid-60's, an incompetent stage technician turned on a spotlight that ruined the intended effect that he was aiming for in one part of his act; as such, he was forced to improvise something on the spot until the light was turned off, before he could salvage it. To make matters even more nerve-wracking, Jim Henson was ''right in the audience.'' After the performance, while Carroll was brooding backstage, Jim came in and congratulated him, saying, "I liked what you were trying to do."

** While ''The Muppet Show'' was being developed and shopped around, Henson was planning a Muppet-based Broadway musical. The idea eventually fell through. Not a lot is known about what the musical would have been like, except that the last scene would remove the barricade that shielded the puppeteers from the audience and the final number would show both puppets and their performers, much as Avenue Q is performed now. Much, much later, it evolved into the plot of ''The Muppets Take Manhattan.''

** On a related note, Jim was the first person Creator/GeorgeLucas approached to play [[Franchise/StarWars Yoda]]. Jim deferred the character to Frank Oz due to his busy schedule, but who knows how Yoda would have turned out under (over?) a different performer?

Jim Henson died suddenly of toxic shock syndrome following a severe strep throat infection on May 16, 1990 -- the same day as Creator/SammyDavisJr. At the time, he was negotiating with Creator/{{Disney}} to turn over the rights to his characters so that he could focus on production and performing, and did not wish to visit the hospital (his wife would later state that the refusal was likely due to his desire not to be a bother to people). He was only 53 years old. In a sense, this was the EndOfAnAge for the Muppets.

* AttentionDeficitCreatorDisorder: Perhaps the poster child for how well this can work. From his early successes to the day he died, Henson was constantly trying to get new projects off the ground and expand his artistic possibilities. Many of his associates speculated that this was due to his brother Paul's death in a car accident, with such a vivid demonstration of how suddenly a person's life can end making him want to do as much as he possibly could with whatever time he had.

** And on a more straight note, an early Muppet made for the Muppet Show bears his image, and when he preformed using it, he used his regular voice. You can see it in the image between him and the blue frog. He was often joined by two Muppets who were versions of Frank and Jerry.

* CreatorBreakdown: He had one in the mid-1980s, involving the disastrous reception to ''Film/{{Labyrinth}}'' and a separation from his wife. He became morbid and reclusive and was just starting to come out of that stage when he died.

* GreenAesop: Jim was an environmentalist, and as a results, these turn up all throughout his work. Kermit was also enlisted for various environmental PSA's.

** Henson did a surrealistic teleplay called ''Film/TheCube'' in the 1960s about a man trapped in a small cube who's visited by various strange people as he tries to find his way out.
** His equally surreal 1964 ''Film/TimePiece'' received an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for Best Live-Action Short Film.

* IncrediblyLamePun: He loved these.

** At Henson's memorial service, Frank Oz told the story of arguing with Jim over an Incredibly Lame Pun Jim was trying to build a Muppet Show sketch around. At first Oz gently pointed out what a stretch it would be to include the pun, then finally he told Jim flat-out that the joke was just bad, to which Jim replied with heartfelt sincerity, "Oh yes, it's a terrible joke, but it's ''worthy'' of us!"

** When Music/AliceCooper hosted the show, he said by the end of the week he stopped talking to the Muppet performers and spoke directly to the Muppets, and all the performers were so great at improv that they never broke character. Forget Creator/MarlonBrando, the Muppet crew are kings of method acting.

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 -- May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, filmmaker, voice actor and actor born in Greenville, Mississippi. He was one of the greatest puppeteers in history, and used that art to reach heights of popular success and artistic acclaim undreamed of by anyone in his field before or since.

* LargeAndInCharge: While he was a pretty tall guy at 6'3'', what this actually applies to his hands as a puppeteer. Jim had very big hands and Kermit was in fact designed with this in mind, having very little fabric around the mouth so that Jim had full control over Kermit's facial movement. Replicas of Kermit have extra layers of cloth there to compensate for normal hand-sized people.

In the mid-1970s, after both a season performing new characters on ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' and a couple specials that would serve as pilots, ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' launched in first run syndication in the US, and on Creator/{{ITV}} in the UK, having been bankrolled by British entertainment legend Lord Lew Grade (who had previously bankrolled another puppeteer, Creator/GerryAnderson). Like the early variety show appearances, the Muppets used {{Slapstick}} so over the top it's a wonder MoralGuardians of the time didn't have a heart attack from all the explosions, Muppets eating smaller Muppets, and general mayhem surrounding the Muppet Theatre. Henson, in addition to Kermit and Rowlf, performed characters ranging from trippy keyboardist Dr. Teeth to the masculine and very dense Link Hogthrob. He also performed Waldorf to Richard Hunt's Statler, giving the theatre its [[JustForFun/StatlerAndWaldorf heckling, cackling and long suffering]] GreekChorus.

* NiceGuy: As his friends and colleagues will tell you, Jim was a very easygoing and gentle soul. It has been said that Rowlf the Dog was very much the closest in personality to Jim (one difference being that, on rare occasions, Rowlf could lose his cool, as seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUZCZWfXdJ4 here]]).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: One of the most heartbreaking examples in recent memory. How devastating was this? After Henson's passing, Disney canceled the Muppet sale deal with Jim Henson Productions ([[HilariousInHindsight for over a decade]]), many projects he had begun working on or was in the middle of creating were left unfinished forever, a primetime special was created to honor his memory, and many of his characters (including [[Franchise/TheMuppets Rowlf the Dog]] and [[Series/SesameStreet Ernie]]) [[TheVoiceless went silent for years]] before [[TheOtherDarrin finding new performers.]]

* AuthorExistenceFailure: One of the most heartbreaking examples in recent memory. How devastating was this? After Henson's passing, Disney canceled the Muppet sale deal with Jim Henson Productions ([[HilariousInHindsight for over a decade), many projects he had begun working on or were in the middle of creating were left unfinished forever, a primetime special was created to honor his memory, and many of his characters (including [[Franchise/TheMuppets Rowlf the Dog]] and [[Series/SesameStreet Ernie]]) [[TheVoiceless went silent for years]] before [[TheOtherDarrin finding new performers.]]

* AuthorExistenceFailure: One of the most heartbreaking examples in recent memory. After Henson's passing, Disney canceled the Muppet sale deal with Jim Henson Productions ([[HilariousInHindsight for over a decade), many projects he had begun working on or were in the middle of creating were left unfinished forever, a primetime special was created to honor his memory, and many of his characters (including [[Franchise/TheMuppets Rowlf the Dog]] and [[Series/SesameStreet Ernie]]) [[TheVoiceless went silent for years]] before [[TheOtherDarrin finding new performers]].

* AuthorExistenceFailure: One of the most heartbreaking examples in recent memory.

* CreatorBreakdown: He had one in the mid-1980s, involving the disastrous reception to ''Film/TheDarkCrystal'' and a separation from his wife. He became morbid and reclusive and was just starting to come out of that stage when he died.

[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSE1Mtnnm4Y&feature=related His funeral was pretty awesome]]. The downside was that it was never televised.

* NiceGuy: Jim was a pretty easygoing and nice guy in real life. It has been said that Rowlf the Dog was very much like what Jim really was.

* LargeAndInCharge: While he was a pretty tall guy at 6'3'', what this actually applies to is his hands as a puppeteer. Jim had very big hands and Kermit was in fact designed with this in mind, having very little fabric around the mouth so that Jim had full control over Kermit's facial movement. Replicas of Kermit have extra layers of cloth there to compensate for normal hand-sized people.