Caroll Spinney



Caroll Spinney (b. Dec 26, 1933) was born in Waltham, Massachusetts. For over 35 years, Spinney has performed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street. He has described his experience as Big Bird as "a lot like growing up to be Mickey Mouse... only taller!"

Spinney was an accomplished artist before he started working as a live performer. He attended The Art Institute of Boston's College of Art & Design. While in the military, he created a comic strip under the name Ed Spinney. In the early 1960s, he created an animated cartoon series called Crazy Crayon under the same name.

In 1955, Spinney headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he created the show Rascal Rabbit. He returned to Boston in 1958, joining The Judy and Goggle Show as a puppeteer, performing Goggle.

In the 1960s, Spinney created two puppet cats, Picklepuss and Pop, who he performed on the Boston broadcast of Bozo's Big Top. (Picklepuss and Pop would later go on to perform with the Muppets just once, in the 1988 Jim Henson Play-Along video Wow, You're a Cartoonist!)

In the late '60s, after a stage performance that didn't go too well, Spinney met Jim Henson, who told him that he liked "what he was trying to do." Henson then asked Spinney if he was interested in working on a new children's show they were developing. Spinney went on to star as the man behind Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch.

As Big Bird, Spinney traveled the world -- in the TV specials Big Bird in China and Big Bird in Japan, and in special Sesame Street episodes that took him to New Mexico and Hawaii. He has also starred in a feature film, Follow That Bird.

Spinney has guest starred on many other programs, including The Flip Wilson Show and 141 episodes of Hollywood Squares.

Spinney 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. Caroll Spinney also wrote and illustrated How To Be a Grouch, a 1976 picture book that explains the world from Oscar's point of view.

Puppetry Credits

 * Sesame Characters: Baby Monster, Bennett Snerf (Anything Muppet version), Big Bird, Bruno the Trashman, Granny Bird, Hippie Grump, Lefty the Salesman (season 1), Oscar the Grouch, Shivers the Penguin (early 80s), various Anything Muppet characters,


 * Wow, You're a Cartoonist!: Picklepuss and Pop

Trivia

 * Spinney explained in a 2007 interview that when there’s a scene with both Big Bird and Oscar that “if I’m doing the Bird, I’ll have my assistant move Oscar, but I’ll do both voices. Usually, we pre-record the one that my assistant is moving. Once in a while, if it’s Oscar’s scene and he has a lot more words than Big Bird, then I have my assistant stand in for Big Bird and I record Big Bird’s voice, digitally. That way, they can be talking to each other."


 * While Sesame Street was still in planning stages, Caroll Spinney suggested to Jim Henson that the show have unscripted conversations between Muppets and real-live children.

Awards & Honors
Dates Unknown 1994 2000 2006
 * Spinney has earned four Daytime Emmy Awards, two Gold Records, and two Grammy Awards.
 * As Big Bird, Spinney was honored with a star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
 * As Big Bird, Spinney was awarded the Library of Congress Living Legend Award in April 2000. According to the Library of Congress website, "the award is selected by the Library's curators and subject specialists to honor artists, writers, activists, filmmakers, physicians, entertainers, sports figures and public servants who have made significant contributions to America's diverse cultural, scientific and social heritage."
 * Daytime Emmys Lifetime Achievement Award