Puppeteer
From Freepedia
A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object to create the illusion of life. A puppeteer can operate a puppet either by the use of strings, rods, wires or simply their own hands. Some puppet styles require puppeteers to work in teams to create a single character.
There are a broad range of styles of puppetry that require puppeteers. There are shadow puppets, rod puppets, Marrionettes, Table-top puppets, body puppets, Hand or glove puppets, etc. Whatever the style, the puppeteer's role is to use manipulate the physical object in such a manner that the audience believes the object is imbued with life.
Two of the most famous modern puppeteers are Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Their work has entertained children for decades on the popular Sesame Street, and The Muppet Show television series. (The puppets used by these puppeteers are usually called Muppets).
Henson and Oz also frequently worked in film, including directing and puppeteer work in the 1982 film The Dark Crystal and the 1986 film Labyrinth. Oz is also well known for his work with the puppet of Yoda in the popular Star Wars movie series and as a director of movies such as the musical Little Shop of Horrors.
Another puppeteer is Gerry Anderson who used a puppet system called Supermarionation to a number of successful science fiction television shows like Thunderbirds
Notable puppeteers
- Bil Baird
- Trace Beaulieu (Mystery Science Theater 3000's Crow T. Robot)
- Edgar Bergen (Charlie McCarthy and others)
- Michael Ian Black (The Pets.com sock puppet)
- Fran Brill (Prairie Dawn, Zoe, Little Bird, Roxie Marie)
- Kevin Clash (Elmo on Sesame Street)
- Jonathan Edward Cross (a.k.a. Jonny ClockWorks) Artistic Director of The Cosmic Bicycle Theatre
- Wayland Flowers (Madame)
- Christine Glanville (One of Gerry Anderson's lead puppet operators)
- Phillip Huber (Puppets for Being John Malkovich)
- Jim Henson (Kermit the Frog, Ernie, and many others)
- Shari Lewis (Lamb Chop and others)
- Lewis Mahlmann (Director of Children's Fairyland puppet theater 1967-1990)
- Randal Metz (Director of Children's Fairyland puppet theater 1990-present, President SF Puppet Guild)
- Kevin Murphy (Mystery Science Theater 3000's Tom Servo)
- Jerry Nelson (Dr. Julius Strangepork, Herry Monster)
- Frank Oz (Miss Piggy, Yoda, Bert, Fozzie Bear, Grover, Cookie Monster and many others)
- Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers' Neighborhood)
- Ilke Schönbein (travelling puppeteer)
- Peter Schumann (Bread and Puppet Theater)
- Robert Smigel (Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog)
- Caroll Spinney (Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street)
- Winston Tong (1978 Obie Award winner for Puppetry)
- Bart. P. Roccoberton Jr. (Professor of Puppet Arts, University of Connecticut)
- Jon Ludwig (Artistic Director, Center for Puppetry Arts, Atlanta, Ga.)
- Eric Bass (Artistic Director Sandglass Theater, Putney, Vermont]
- Warner Blake (Interdisciplinary Artist)
Famous people who also were puppeteers:
- Goethe
- Alfred Jarry
- Jean Cocteau
- Peter Brook
- Tim Blaney who provided the voice of Johnny 5 along with puppeteer work with Tony Urbano
- Pantopuck (First puppeteer on Television, author of "The Magic Tower and other Plays", "Let’s Look at Puppets" & "Modern Puppetry." editor of "Puppet Post"
See also
- List of puppets
- Adult puppeteering
- Lübeck Museum of Theatre Puppets
- Larry Niven's Known Space science fiction stories in which Puppeteers are an alien race.
- For information about puppetry technique or the use of puppets, see the respective articles on each kind of puppet.



