Caroll Spinney



Caroll Edward Spinney: December 26, 1933 - Present

Caroll Spinney was born in Waltham, Massachusetts. He attended The Art Institute of Boston's College of Art & Design. For over 35 years, Caroll has performed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on the children's television show Sesame Street. He has described his experience as Big Bird as "a lot like growing up to be Mickey Mouse... only taller!"

Caroll was already an accomplished artist before he started working as a live performer. While in the military, he created a comic strip under the name Ed Spinney. In the early 1960's, he created an animated cartoon series called Crazy Crayon under the same name.

Caroll created a puppet character called Picklepuss long before he started his work on Sesame Street. This loveable cat and his other friends joined Caroll in entertaining audiences of all ages in the early 1960's.

In the late 1960's, after a stage performance that didn't go too well, he met Jim Henson, who told Caroll that he liked "what he was trying to do." Jim then asked Caroll if he was interested in working on this new children's show they were developing. Caroll went on to star as the man behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

Caroll wrote an autobiography in 2003 titled The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers.

Puppetry Credits

 * Sesame Street: Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bruno, Sam the Robot
 * The Great Santa Claus Switch"
 * Bozo's Big Top:  Picklepuss, Pop

Trivia

 * Sometimes credited as "Carroll Spinney", "Caroll Spinney", or "Ed Spinney"
 * In addition to puppeting, Caroll has been drawing and painting since he was a child. He has drawn comic strips, been an animator, sketched portraits, illustrated books, designed training aids for the Air Force and painted for his own pleasure.

Awards & Honors
Dates Unknown 1994 2000 '2003
 * Caroll has earned four Emmy's, two Gold Records, and two Grammy Awards.
 * As Big Bird, was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
 * The Library of Congress declared Spinney a "living legend."
 * Spinney was awarded The Christopher Award.

Quotes

 * "I've often noted that the characters, the puppets, often demonstrate more humanity than the real people."