He posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was named a Disney Legend in 2011. ==Biography== ===Early life: 1936–1960=== Henson was born James Maury Henson on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two children of Paul Ransom Henson (1904–1994), an agronomist for the United States Department of Agriculture, and his wife Betty Marcella (née Brown, 1904–1972).
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, composer, filmmaker and screenwriter, who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets characters and Fraggle Rock (1983–1987); and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).
He posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was named a Disney Legend in 2011. ==Biography== ===Early life: 1936–1960=== Henson was born James Maury Henson on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two children of Paul Ransom Henson (1904–1994), an agronomist for the United States Department of Agriculture, and his wife Betty Marcella (née Brown, 1904–1972).
He was raised as a Christian Scientist and spent his early childhood in Leland, Mississippi, before moving with his family to University Park, Maryland, near Washington, DC, in the late 1940s.
The popularity of his work on Sam and Friends in the late 1950s led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows.
Like the Wilkins Coffee ads of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the formula stayed fairly similar.
He remained a Christian Scientist at least into his twenties when he taught Sunday school, but he wrote to a Christian Science church in 1975 to inform them that he was no longer a practicing member. Henson began working for WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV) in 1954 while attending Northwestern High School, creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show called The Junior Morning Show.
He remained at WRC from 1954 to 1961. In the show, Henson began experimenting with techniques that changed the way in which puppetry was used on television, including using the frame defined by the camera shot to allow the puppet performer to work from off-camera.
(1932–1956), died in a car crash on April 15, 1956.
In 1958, he co-founded Muppets, Inc., which became The Jim Henson Company. In 1969, Henson joined the children's educational television program Sesame Street (1969–present) where he helped to develop characters for the series.
By 1990, he had completed production on the television special The Muppets at Walt Disney World and the Disney-MGM Studios attraction Muppet*Vision 3D and he was developing film ideas and a television series entitled Muppet High. ==Personal life== Henson married Jane Nebel in 1959 and their children are Lisa (b.
He graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics.
Like the Wilkins Coffee ads of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the formula stayed fairly similar.
He remained at WRC from 1954 to 1961. In the show, Henson began experimenting with techniques that changed the way in which puppetry was used on television, including using the frame defined by the camera shot to allow the puppet performer to work from off-camera.
He began dating Jane after his return to the United States. ===Television and Muppets: 1961–1969=== Henson spent much of the next two decades working in commercials, talk shows, and children's projects before realizing his dream of the Muppets as "entertainment for everybody".
Jane quit performing to raise their children, and Henson hired writer Jerry Juhl in 1961 and puppet performer Frank Oz in 1963 to replace her.
The Henson company claimed that Brady was incorrectly using Henson's name and likeness in their attempts to license the characters. In 1963, Henson and his wife moved to New York City where the newly formed Muppets, Inc.
Jane quit performing to raise their children, and Henson hired writer Jerry Juhl in 1961 and puppet performer Frank Oz in 1963 to replace her.
From 1963 to 1966, Henson began exploring filmmaking and produced a series of experimental films.
(Sullivan introduced him as "Jim Newsom and his Puppets" on September 11, 1966.) These television broadcasts greatly increased his exposure, leading to hundreds of commercial appearances by Henson characters throughout the '60s.
From 1963 to 1966, Henson began exploring filmmaking and produced a series of experimental films.
His nine-minute experimental film Time Piece was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film in 1966.
In 1958, he co-founded Muppets, Inc., which became The Jim Henson Company. In 1969, Henson joined the children's educational television program Sesame Street (1969–present) where he helped to develop characters for the series.
He produced The Cube in 1969.
The series included Hey, Cinderella!, The Frog Prince, and The Muppet Musicians of Bremen. ===Expansion of audience: 1970–1978=== Henson, Oz, and his team were concerned that the company was becoming typecast solely as purveyors of children's entertainment, so they targeted an adult audience with a series of sketches on the first season of the late-night live television variety show Saturday Night Live.
Lisa Henson will serve as producer. ===Tributes=== In 1971, the University of Maryland's National Residence Hall Honorary chapter was founded as the Jim Henson Chapter.
He remained a Christian Scientist at least into his twenties when he taught Sunday school, but he wrote to a Christian Science church in 1975 to inform them that he was no longer a practicing member. Henson began working for WTOP-TV (now WUSA-TV) in 1954 while attending Northwestern High School, creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show called The Junior Morning Show.
Eleven Land of Gorch sketches were aired between October 1975 and January 1976 on NBC, with four additional appearances in March, April, May, and September 1976.
Eleven Land of Gorch sketches were aired between October 1975 and January 1976 on NBC, with four additional appearances in March, April, May, and September 1976.
The American networks rejected the series in 1976, believing that Muppets would appeal only to a child audience.
Steve Whitmire, who had joined the Muppets cast in 1978, began performing Kermit the Frog six months after Henson's death.
And if he liked it, he would say, 'Lovely!'" Henson recognized Kermit as an alter ego, though he thought that Kermit was bolder than he; he once said of the character, "He can say things I hold back." ===Transition to the big screen: 1979–1986=== The Muppets appeared in their first theatrical feature film The Muppet Movie in 1979.
Lucas lobbied unsuccessfully to have Oz nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. In 1982, Henson founded the Jim Henson Foundation to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States.
To provide a visual style distinct from the Muppets, the puppets in The Dark Crystal were based on conceptual artwork by Brian Froud, and it was a financial and critical success. Also in 1982, Henson co-founded Henson International Television with Peter Orton and Sophie Turner Laing as his partners.
The company was a distribution company for children's, teens' and family television. Oz directed The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) which grossed $25.5 million domestically and ranked one of the top 40 films of 1984.
Henson and his wife separated in 1986, although they remained close for the rest of his life.
This demoralized Henson; his son Brian Henson described it as "the closest I've seen him to turning in on himself and getting quite depressed." The film later became a cult classic. ===Final years: 1987–1990=== Henson continued creating children's television, such as Fraggle Rock and the animated Muppet Babies.
Henson blamed its failure on NBC's constant rescheduling. In late 1989, Henson entered into negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company for almost $150 million, hoping that he would "be able to spend a lot more of my time on the creative side of things" with Disney handling business matters.
James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, composer, filmmaker and screenwriter, who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets characters and Fraggle Rock (1983–1987); and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986).
He won the Emmy Award twice for his involvement in The Storyteller (1987–1988) and The Jim Henson Hour (1989). On May 16, 1990, Henson died in New York City at the age of 53 from bacterial pneumonia.
By 1990, he had completed production on the television special The Muppets at Walt Disney World and the Disney-MGM Studios attraction Muppet*Vision 3D and he was developing film ideas and a television series entitled Muppet High. ==Personal life== Henson married Jane Nebel in 1959 and their children are Lisa (b.
Henson was a strong supporter of the civil rights movement. ==Illness and death== Henson appeared with Kermit on The Arsenio Hall Show on May 4, 1990.
On May 12, 1990, Henson traveled to Ahoskie, North Carolina, with his daughter Cheryl to visit his father and stepmother.
They returned to their home in New York City the following day, and Henson cancelled a Muppet recording session that had been scheduled for May 14, 1990.
(EST) on May 15, 1990, and began coughing up blood.
However, on May 29, 1990, Gelmont reclassified it as organ dysfunction resulting from streptococcal toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus pyogenes.
On May 21, 1990, Henson's public memorial service was conducted in Manhattan at the Cathedral of St.
Another was conducted on July 2, 1990, at St Paul's Cathedral in London.
He posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was named a Disney Legend in 2011. ==Biography== ===Early life: 1936–1960=== Henson was born James Maury Henson on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two children of Paul Ransom Henson (1904–1994), an agronomist for the United States Department of Agriculture, and his wife Betty Marcella (née Brown, 1904–1972).
On February 17, 2004, the Muppets and the Bear in the Big Blue House properties were sold to the Walt Disney Company. One of Henson's last projects was the attraction Muppet*Vision 3D, which opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios on May 16, 1991, exactly one year after his death.
The special featured interviews with Steven Spielberg and others. Tom Smith's Henson tribute song, "A Boy and His Frog", won the Pegasus Award for Best Filk Song in 1991. The classes of 1994, 1998, and 1999 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Henson's alma mater, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003, which would have been Henson's 67th birthday.
However, in July 1992 Brady was sued by Jim Henson Productions for unfair competition in addition to copyright and trademark infringement.
Henson was cremated and in 1992, his ashes were scattered near Taos in New Mexico. ==Legacy== The Jim Henson Company and the Jim Henson Foundation continued after his death, producing new series and specials.
The special featured interviews with Steven Spielberg and others. Tom Smith's Henson tribute song, "A Boy and His Frog", won the Pegasus Award for Best Filk Song in 1991. The classes of 1994, 1998, and 1999 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Henson's alma mater, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003, which would have been Henson's 67th birthday.
The special featured interviews with Steven Spielberg and others. Tom Smith's Henson tribute song, "A Boy and His Frog", won the Pegasus Award for Best Filk Song in 1991. The classes of 1994, 1998, and 1999 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Henson's alma mater, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003, which would have been Henson's 67th birthday.
The special featured interviews with Steven Spielberg and others. Tom Smith's Henson tribute song, "A Boy and His Frog", won the Pegasus Award for Best Filk Song in 1991. The classes of 1994, 1998, and 1999 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Henson's alma mater, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003, which would have been Henson's 67th birthday.
He was dismissed from the cast in October 2016, and Matt Vogel succeeded him in the role of Kermit. Sesame Workshop acquired the Sesame Street characters in 2000.
The special featured interviews with Steven Spielberg and others. Tom Smith's Henson tribute song, "A Boy and His Frog", won the Pegasus Award for Best Filk Song in 1991. The classes of 1994, 1998, and 1999 at the University of Maryland, College Park, Henson's alma mater, commissioned a life-size statue of Henson and Kermit the Frog, which was dedicated on September 24, 2003, which would have been Henson's 67th birthday.
Among them was Kertle, a statue designed to look like Kermit the Frog by Washington, DC-based artist Elizabeth Baldwin. In 2003, Jim Henson was honored at the annual Norsk Høstfest in Minot, North Dakota. Our Atlan, Thibaut Berland, and Damien Ferrie wrote, directed, and animated a 3D tribute to Henson entitled Over Time that was shown as part of the 2005 Electronic Theater at SIGGRAPH. On September 28, 2005, the U.S.
On February 17, 2004, the Muppets and the Bear in the Big Blue House properties were sold to the Walt Disney Company. One of Henson's last projects was the attraction Muppet*Vision 3D, which opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios on May 16, 1991, exactly one year after his death.
Among them was Kertle, a statue designed to look like Kermit the Frog by Washington, DC-based artist Elizabeth Baldwin. In 2003, Jim Henson was honored at the annual Norsk Høstfest in Minot, North Dakota. Our Atlan, Thibaut Berland, and Damien Ferrie wrote, directed, and animated a 3D tribute to Henson entitled Over Time that was shown as part of the 2005 Electronic Theater at SIGGRAPH. On September 28, 2005, the U.S.
In 2006, the University of Maryland introduced 50 statues of its school mascot, Testudo the Terrapin, with various designs chosen by different sponsoring groups.
Teeth, Mahna Mahna). A biopic film based on Henson's life, known as Muppet Man, has been in development at Walt Disney Pictures and The Jim Henson Company since 2010.
He posthumously received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was named a Disney Legend in 2011. ==Biography== ===Early life: 1936–1960=== Henson was born James Maury Henson on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two children of Paul Ransom Henson (1904–1994), an agronomist for the United States Department of Agriculture, and his wife Betty Marcella (née Brown, 1904–1972).
Postal Service issued a sheet of commemorative stamps honoring Henson and the Muppets. On August 9, 2011, Jim Henson posthumously received the Disney Legends Award.
Two of his characters, Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog, performed "The Rainbow Connection" in his honor. On September 24, 2011, Leland renamed one of their bridges "The Rainbow Connection" to honor Henson and his work.
The script remained in the Henson Company archives until it was adapted in the 2012 graphic novel Jim Henson's Tale of Sand. During this time, Henson continued to work with various companies who sought out his Muppets for advertising purposes.
Brian Jay Jones published Jim Henson: The Biography on September 24, 2013, Henson's 77th birthday. The moving-image collection of Jim Henson is held at the Academy Film Archive.
He was dismissed from the cast in October 2016, and Matt Vogel succeeded him in the role of Kermit. Sesame Workshop acquired the Sesame Street characters in 2000.
The Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library created an exhibit from 2019 to 2020 highlighting Jim Henson's time at the university. Henson is honored both as himself and as Kermit the Frog on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
The Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library created an exhibit from 2019 to 2020 highlighting Jim Henson's time at the university. Henson is honored both as himself and as Kermit the Frog on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
In April 2021, it was reported that Michael Mitnick was hired to rewrite the screenplay, previously written by Aaron and Jordan Kandell.
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