Caroll Spinney, the puppeteer best known for performing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street, has passed away earlier today, due to complications from dystonia. He was 85 years old.
Spinney joined Sesame Street for its inaugural season in 1969, with both of his iconic characters debuting at that time. He stayed with the children’s television program up until 2018. Before Sesame Street, he had a career in puppeteering for Bozo’s Big Top during the early 1960’s, portraying various characters that included Kookie the Boxing Kangaroo and Mr. Lion. He also created his own puppet duo at the same time, consisting of two cats named Picklepuss and Pop, whom he performed as through the 60’s.
However, once Spinney joined Sesame Street, that became his primary focus for the rest of his career. While he mainly performed only as either Big Bird or Oscar, he occasionally took on other small roles, including Big Bird’s grandmother Granny Bird, and a garbage carrier named Bruno the Trash Man.
But both his main characters were such big hits that nearly all his appearances in other media were as one of the two characters. His work as Big Bird was also notably impressive as it was a rare instance of someone performing a full-body puppet costume, something that has been studied by many other international puppeteers for years to come.
Even Sesame Street was Spinney’s main focus, and many of his other appearances were in television, he did occasionally appear in films, usually in a Muppet-related production. He made cameos as Oscar the Grouch in The Great Muppet Caper and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (his last film appearance), and he appeared as Big Bird in The Muppet Movie, as well as having a starring role as the character in Follow That Bird. The one non-Muppet appearance Spinney made on film was a small role as a dog in the 1993 film Homeward Bound: the Incredible Journey.
Spinney performed both as Big Bird and Oscar full-time up until 2015, when he found out about his dystonia diagnosis. He retired from puppeteering, handing the reigns over to Matt Vogel for Big Bird and Eric Jacobson for Oscar. However, he still recorded dialogue for both characters (though occasionally allowing the new puppeteers to do both vocals and puppeteering), which would get looped in later on. However in 2018, Spinney officially announced his retirement and passed the reigns over to both performers full time.
Spinney was a major part of many people’s childhoods over the course of nearly fifty years. He leaves behind a legacy in children’s entertainment that is nearly impossible to replicate.
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