
Jim Henson
Known for DirectingBorn 1936-09-24Died 1990-05-16Greenville, Mississippi, USA
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 (1983–1987) 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 (1955–1961), a short-form comedy television program on WRC-TV, while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park, in collaboration with fellow student Jane Nebel. Henson and Nebel co-founded 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 children's television program Sesame Street (1969–present) 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 (1975–present). He produced the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show (1976–1981) 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 Henson's Creature Shop. He won the Emmy Award twice for his involvement in The Storyteller (1987–1988) 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 CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.Read more
Movies & web series
★ 10.0Find where to watch →
Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music
1990 · Movie
★ 10.0Find where to watch →
An Evening with Jim Henson and Frank Oz
1989 · Movie
★ 10.0Find where to watch →
Wow, You're A Cartoonist!
1988 · Movie
★ 10.0Find where to watch →
Dolly
1987 · Series
★ 10.0Find where to watch →
Sesame Street: Learning About Numbers
1986 · Movie
★ 10.0Find where to watch →
The King of Eight
1971 · Movie
★ 9.5Find where to watch →
Sam and Friends
1955 · Series
★ 9.0Find where to watch →
The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street
1998 · Movie
★ 9.0Find where to watch →
50 Years of Television: A Golden Celebration
1989 · Movie
Muppet Video: Rowlf's Rhapsodies with the Muppets
★ 9.0Find where to watch →
Muppet Video: Rowlf's Rhapsodies with the Muppets
1985 · Movie
★ 8.9Find where to watch →
The Jim Henson Hour
1989 · Series
★ 9.0Find where to watch →
Mickey's 50
1978 · Movie
The Muppet Show Pitch Reel
★ 9.0Find where to watch →
The Muppet Show Pitch Reel
1976 · Movie
★ 8.9Find where to watch →
Classic Creatures: Return of the Jedi
1983 · Movie
★ 9.0Find where to watch →
Sesame Street Pitch Reel
1969 · Movie
★ 8.8Find where to watch →
Free to Be... a Family
1988 · Movie
★ 8.5Find where to watch →
Muppets Magic from 'The Ed Sullivan Show!'
2003 · Movie
★ 8.3Find where to watch →
AFI's 100 Years... 100 Songs: America's Greatest Music in the Movies
2004 · Movie
★ 8.2Find where to watch →
Sesame Street: Bert & Ernie's Word Play
2002 · Movie
★ 8.5Find where to watch →
Limbo: The Organized Mind
1966 · Movie
★ 8.3Find where to watch →
Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters
1985 · Series
★ 8.3Find where to watch →
Reading Rainbow
1983 · Series
★ 8.2Find where to watch →
The Storyteller
1988 · Series
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
Studio DC: Almost Live
2008 · Series
★ 7.8Find where to watch →
Jim Henson Idea Man
2024 · Movie
★ 7.8Find where to watch →
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock
2022 · Series
★ 7.8Find where to watch →
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance
2019 · Series
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
Children's Songs and Stories with the Muppets
1985 · Movie
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
Night of 100 Stars II
1985 · Movie
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
The Orson Welles Show
1979 · Movie
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
The Muppet Show
1976 · Series
★ 7.9Find where to watch →
Dog City
1989 · Movie
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
Out to Lunch
1974 · Movie
★ 7.9Find where to watch →
Muppet Babies
1984 · Series
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
Pure Goldie
1971 · Movie
★ 7.8Find where to watch →
Dinosaurs
1991 · Series
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
The Muppets on Puppets
1970 · Movie
★ 7.4Find where to watch →
Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street
2021 · Movie
★ 7.8Find where to watch →
The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show
1982 · Movie
★ 7.4Find where to watch →
I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story
2015 · Movie
★ 8.0Find where to watch →
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade
1948 · Series
★ 7.6Find where to watch →
Inside the Labyrinth
1986 · Movie
★ 7.9Find where to watch →
The Wonderful World of Disney
1954 · Series
★ 7.4Find where to watch →
The World of Jim Henson
1994 · Movie
★ 7.4Find where to watch →
The Muppet Christmas Carol
1992 · Movie
★ 7.5Find where to watch →
Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
1978 · Movie
★ 7.0Find where to watch →
The First Snow of Fraggle Rock
2025 · Movie
★ 7.3Find where to watch →
Sesame Street: 25 Wonderful Years: A Musical Celebration!
1993 · Movie