Specht with a group of Sesame Street toys in 1987
Karen Specht was the hair stylist for the human cast of Sesame Street from seasons 11 through 37, as well as related productions such as Don't Eat the Pictures. Specht earned seven Daytime Emmy nominations for her work on the program. She also served as key hair stylist on The Producers, which included effects by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.
Specht's first styling job in television was on To Tell the Truth. She also did television hair styling for the first two seasons of Saturday Night Live, All My Children, Roundhouse, Sex and the City, As the World Turns, and other series. Film credits include Shaft, The Wiz, Hair, Three Men and a Little Lady, Dad (with Jack Lemmon and Ted Danson), Doubt (with Meryl Streep, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis), and Revolutionary Road.