Jim Henson

James Maury Henson September 24 1936 May 16 1990 was an American puppeteer actor animator creative producer and director who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets Henson was also well known for creating Fraggle Rock 19831987 and as the director of The Dark Crystal 1982 and Labyrinth 1986 as well as creating the puppets for Sesame Street 1969 Born in Greenville Mississippi and raised in both Leland Mississippi and University Park Maryland Henson began developing puppets in high school He created Sam and Friends 19551961 a shortform comedy television program on WRCTV while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland College Park in collaboration with fellow student Jane Nebel Henson and Nebel cofounded Muppets Inc now The Jim Henson Company in 1958 and married less than a year later in 1959 Henson graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in home economics In 1969 Henson joined the childrens television program Sesame Street 1969present where he helped to develop Muppet characters for the series He and his creative team also appeared on the first season of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live 1975present He produced the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show 19761981 during this period Henson revolutionized the way puppetry is captured and presented in video media and he won fame for his characters particularly Kermit the Frog Rowlf the Dog and the characters on Sesame Street During the later years of his life he founded the Jim Henson Foundation and Jim Hensons Creature Shop He won the Emmy Award twice for his involvement in The Storyteller 19871988 and The Jim Henson Hour 1989 Henson died in New York City from toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus pyogenes At the time of his death he was in negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company but talks fell through after his death He was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991 and was named a Disney Legend in 2011 Description above from the Wikipedia article Jim Henson licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia