Brian Henson

Brian Henson (b. 1963) is a puppeteer, director, producer, writer, performer, and Co-Chief Executive Officer of the Jim Henson Company.

Early Life
Brian Henson was the third child of Jim and Jane Henson. As a child, he made several cameo appearances in The Baker Films, counting three peas, five dimes, and seven nickels. As he got older, he built the very first Muppet Penguin puppet. During a summer break from high school, he helped out in the bicycle sequence from The Great Muppet Caper. He helped create and operate a special rigging device that was created to allow the Muppets to ride bicycles, since he was skilled in the use of marionette puppets, whereas most Jim Henson Company employees had significantly less experience in that area.

As a teenager, Brian Henson worked at Sesame Place one summer. One of his co-workers there was fellow future Muppeteer Bill Barretta. Says Henson, "I was just a typical 17 year-old. I wanted a summer job, I didn't want to live at home, and I was very into being independent and living by my own means. Basically, my father suggested, "Maybe you want to go work at Sesame Place." My sister had a friend whose family owned a boarding house in Princeton, New Jersey – so that was why I really went to do it. I was basically helping kids who were crying on the rides and cleaning up bathrooms and smiling a lot with everybody else who ran Sesame Place. I think Sesame Place really wasn't part of an ambitious move – I was just a kid with a summer job. But I did meet people who I've continued to know all my life; who are all very successful in the film industry... Which is really kind of weird, that you'd go to this small town amusement park and be picking up cigarette butts with three other guys, and then 20 years later they're all big shots in the film industry."

During the 1980s, Henson wanted to make a name for himself and find work without his father's help. He performed Jack Pumpkinhead in Return to Oz, he operated special effects in Santa Clause: The Movie, and he was a principal performer for the Audrey II puppet in Little Shop of Horrors, controlling mouth movement while others performed the lips and vines.

Creature Shop Involvement
Most of Henson's work at The Jim Henson Company during the 1980s was in productions made by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. One of the few exceptions was The Christmas Toy, where he performed Cruiser.

In 1986, Brian Henson performed the voice and face movements of Hoggle in Labyrinth. He then performed the regular role of The Storyteller's Dog on The StoryTeller and The StoryTeller: Greek Myths. He also performed occasionally on Dinosaurs.

Company Involvement
After the death of Jim Henson, Brian, along with his other siblings, owned The Jim Henson Company.

In January 1991, at the age of 27, Brian Henson was named president, chairman, and chief executive officer of Henson.

In 1995, the Company created the Office of the President, in which Brian became President and CEO and longtime Henson executive Charlie Rivkin became President and Chief Operating Officer.

After the sale to EM.TV in 2000, Brian became chairman until he resigned in 2002. One year later, he led his siblings in the re-acquisition of the Henson Company from EM.TV.

Brian Henson has produced many Hensons series, and he directed select episodes of Jim Henson Presents Mother Goose Stories, Dinosaurs, Muppets Tonight, and Farscape. He also directed The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island.

Performing Muppets
Brian Henson became one of the core Muppet performers starting with Muppets Tonight, where his roles included Sal Manilla, Seymour the Elephant, Nigel the Director, and Dr. Phil van Neuter. In the Behind-the-scenes feature on the Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story DVD, Brian Henson refers to Bill Barretta as his "performing partner", and together they performed such duos as Seymour and Pepe and Johnny Fiama and Sal. Baretta also normally performed the hands of Dr. Phil van Neuter, and in Episode 103 of Muppets Tonight, Henson's character Sal had a run-in with Barretta's Bobo the Bear, in which Sal was hurled from the building for continually referring to Bobo as "butt-head".

Although Dr. Phil van Neuter has ocasionally been used since then, Henson's only character from that series to continue being used regularly is Sal, who has appeared in Muppets From Space, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, The Muppets Wizard of Oz, and other productions.

At The Muppet Show Live, Brian Henson finally took over one of his father's characters, the Newsman. In It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, Henson took over two of Richard Hunt's characters, Scooter and Janice. Henson would perform these two characters again, along with the Newsman, in the video game Muppet Party Cruise.

Current Projects
In 1999, Brian Henson appeared in a series of Introductions that were recorded especially for Muppet Show reruns on the Odyssey Network. He also recorded audio commentary for the original DVD releases of The Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, and he appeared in some features on the DVD releases Dinosaurs: The Complete First and Second Seasons and Dinosaurs: The Complete Third and Fourth Seasons (providing audio commentary on the later).

Brian Henson also recently directed Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars, and is currently involved with Late Night Buffet with Augie and Del, a puppet-hosted, improvisational talk show, in which he has joined once again with Bill Barretta to perform the co-hosts Augustus Pfiffle and Delbert Kastle. He is also involved with Puppet Up.

Puppeteer Credits

 * Muppet Characters: Phil van Neuter, Sal Manilla, Seymour, Elvises, Nigel, Andy Pig (Muppet Classic Theater only)
 * The Christmas Toy: Cruiser
 * Dinosaurs: Arthur Rizzic, Aubrey Molehill, Ethyl, Grapdelite, Art Nielsen
 * The Jim Henson Hour: Ultragorgon, Dog the Dinosaur
 * Labyrinth: Hoggle, Goblins
 * Return to Oz: Jack Pumpkinhead
 * The StoryTeller: The Storyteller's Dog, Griffin ("The Luck Child")
 * Late Night Buffet with Augie and Del: Augustus Pfiffle
 * Puppet Up

Director Credits

 * Jim Henson Presents Mother Goose Stories
 * Dinosaurs
 * Episode 301: Nature Calls
 * Episode 401: Monster Under the Bed
 * Episode 408*: Into the Woods
 * The Muppet Christmas Carol
 * Muppet Treasure Island
 * Muppets Tonight
 * Episode 201: The Artist Formerly Known as Prince
 * Episode 202: Rick Moranis
 * Farscape
 * Episode 102: Exodus from Genesis
 * Jack and the Beanstalk: The Real Story
 * Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars
 * Nightmares & Dreamscapes ("Battleground")
 * Frances (select episodes)
 * The Skrumps ("Dance Without Feet" music video)

Other Credits

 * Bear in the Big Blue House - Executive Producer

Awards & Honors
1991
 * Won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing in a Children's Program for Jim Henson's Mother Goose Stories

1992
 * Won the Scientific and Engineering Award for the development of the Henson Performance Control System (Shared with: Faz Fazakas, Dave Housman, Peter Miller, and John Stephenson)

1998
 * Won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program for: Muppets Tonight.