Santa Claus

Santa Claus is a traditional, secular figure of Christmas good cheer, generally depicted as a jolly fat, old man in a red suit. Other nations have their own variations, such as Father Christmas in England and Sinterklaas in the Netherlands. Santa has appeared in several Muppet/Sesame specials over the years, portrayed by different human actors and occasionally depicted as a Muppet. Various Muppet characters have occasionally felt the urge to don the familiar beard as well.

Santa Claus in books
Santa Claus appears in a number of Muppet and Sesame books, including:
 * A Sesame Street Christmas
 * Baby Kermit's Christmas
 * Big Bird Meets Santa Claus
 * Big Bird's Red Book
 * Elmo's Night Before Christmas
 * Santa Visits the Big Blue House

The Sesame characters visit Santa Claus at P.C. Nickles Department Store in:
 * I Can't Wait Until Christmas
 * Merry Christmas, Everybody!

Muppet characters also pretend to be Santa in other books:
 * Baby Fozzie in Ho-Ho-Ho, Baby Fozzie
 * Cookie Monster in Pop Goes the Santa!
 * Kermit the Frog in A Very Muppet Christmas

Connections
The following actors, who have appeared in Muppet/Henson productions, have portrayed Santa in other film or television appearances.


 * Ed Asner voiced Santa in The Story of Santa Claus (1996, TV) and Olive the Other Reindeer (1999, TV) and appeared on camera as Santa in The Ellen Show (2001, TV) and Elf (2003, film).
 * Fred Astaire played Santa in The Man in the Santa Claus Suit (TV, 1979).
 * Mel Brooks voiced Santa in an episode of The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron (2002, TV).
 * David Canary played Santa in Secret Santa (1994, TV).
 * Art Carney reprised the role of Santa in The Night They Saved Christmas (1984, TV).
 * Charles Durning played Santa in several TV movies: It Nearly Wasn't Christmas (1989), Mrs. Santa Claus (1996), Mr. St. Nick (2002), and A Boyfriend for Christmas (2004).
 * Paul Frees voiced Santa in the Rankin/Bass TV specials Frosty the Snowman (1969), The First Easter Rabbit (1976), and Rudolph's Shiny New Year (1976).
 * John Goodman voiced Santa in the video Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer: The Movie (1998), a Robot Santa in Futurama (199, TV), and is slated to appear in Year Without a Santa Claus (2006, TV).
 * James Earl Jones voiced Santa Claus in an episode of Recess (1997, TV)
 * Bruce Kirby played Santa in A Different Kind of Christmas (1996, TV)
 * Stuart Pankin played Santa in an episode of The Hughleys (1998, TV)
 * Gerry Parkes played a retiring Santa Claus in Must Be Santa (1999, TV)
 * Austin Pendleton played a streetcorner Santa in Christmas with the Cranks (2004, film)
 * William Shatner voices Santa in It's a Very Merry Eek's-mas (1993, TV)
 * Peter Ustinov played Santa in Julie's Christmas Special (1973, TV)