Jane Ann Henson (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Nebel; June 16, 1934 – April 2, 2013) was an American

puppeteer A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object called a puppet to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the ...

and co-founder of

Muppets, Inc. The Jim Henson Company, Inc., formerly known as Muppets, Inc., Henson Associates, Inc., and Jim Henson Productions, Inc. (commonly referred to as Henson), is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is kn ...

with her husband

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

Early life

Jane Ann Nebel was born and raised in St. Albans, Queens. She met Jim Henson when she was a senior and he a freshman at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

. Nebel was a member of

Alpha Xi Delta Alpha Xi Delta (, often referred to as A-''"Zee"''-D ) is a women's fraternity founded on April 17, 1893. Baird's Manual is also available online hereThe Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage at Lombard College in Galesburg, Illinois, United Sta ...

sorority.

Career

Jane Nebel and Jim Henson worked together on the live 1950s television show ''

Sam and Friends ''Sam and Friends'' is an American live-action and puppet sketch comedy television series and a lead-in to ''The Tonight Show'' created by puppeteer Jim Henson and his eventual wife Jane Nebel. The show aired live twice daily as a local series ...

'', where Jane collaborated with Jim in performing Muppets and devising several of the show's technical innovations, including the use of television monitors to watch their performances in real time. When, in the late 1950s, Jim took a year off from ''Sam and Friends'' to travel in Europe, Jane ran the show with the help of a University of Maryland classmate. Christopher Finch wrote, "Among the first of im'sassignments at

WRC-TV WRC-TV (channel 4) is a television station in Washington, D.C., serving as the market's NBC outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Class A television service, Class A Telemundo outlet W ...

was ''Afternoon'', a magazine show aimed at housewives. This marked his first collaboration with Jane Nebel – the woman who later became his wife." They did not begin dating until Jim returned from Europe, a trip which he undertook in order to be inspired by European puppeteers who viewed their work as an art form. They were married on May 28, 1959 at Jane's family home in Salisbury, Maryland. When she quit full-time puppeteering in the early 1960s to raise their children, Jim hired

Jerry Juhl Jerome Ravn Juhl (June 28, 1938 – September 25, 2005) was an American television and film writer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Biography Juhl was born in Saint Paul, Minnesota; his family moved to Menlo Park, California, wh ...

and

Frank Oz Frank Richard Oznowicz (born May 25, 1944), known professionally as Frank Oz, is an American puppeteer, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and George Lucas through ''The Muppets'', ''Sesame Street'', and '' ...

to replace her.Plume, Kenneth.
"Interview with Frank Oz"
IGN FilmForce, 2000-02-10. Retrieved on 2007-05-06. She helped Oz learn how to

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

, and continued to perform non-speaking muppets on ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

'' from time to time through at least the 1980s. She was also responsible for the hiring of puppeteer

Steve Whitmire Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on '' The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire originated the roles of Rizzo the R ...

in 1978 after he gave her an impromptu audition in an airport restaurant. Whitmire took over performing

Kermit the Frog Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character created in 1955 and originally performed by Jim Henson. An anthropomorphic green frog, Kermit is the pragmatic everyman protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably as the showrunner and host o ...

and

Ernie Ernie is a masculine given name, frequently a short form (hypocorism) of Ernest, Ernald, Ernesto, or Verner. It may refer to: People * Ernie Accorsi (born 1941), American football executive * Ernie Adams (disambiguation) * Ernie Afaganis ...

of ''Sesame Street'' after Jim Henson's death in 1990. In 1990, the Henson Company forged an agreement with Disney to present a live stage show, ''Here Come the Muppets'', at

Disney-MGM Studios Disney's Hollywood Studios is a theme park at the Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake, Florida, near Orlando. It is owned and operated by the Walt Disney Company through its Experiences division. Based on a concept by Marty Sklar, Randy Bri ...

. Jane was the main developer in the training of performers and profile creation for the walkaround versions of the Muppets. She was able to share the Henson spirit of the ten characters that joined Disney at the time: Kermit the Frog,

Miss Piggy Miss Piggy is a The Muppets, Muppet character known for her Breakthrough role, breakout role in the sketch comedy television series ''The Muppet Show''. She is notable for her temperamental diva superstar personality, her tendency to use French l ...

Fozzie Bear Fozzie Bear is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series ''The Muppet Show'', best known as the insecure and comedically fruitless stand-up comic''.'' Fozzie is an orange-brown bear who often wears a brown pork pie hat and a ...

Gonzo the Great Gonzo is a Muppet character from the sketch comedy television series ''The Muppet Show'', known for his eccentric passion for stunt performance. Aside from his trademark enthusiasm for performance art, another defining trait of Gonzo is the am ...

, Bean Bunny, as well as five members of the Electric Mayhem. Towards the end of her life, Jane conceived the idea of a stylized puppet show based on the Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus. Together with a small group of collaborators, she created a live theatre piece featuring tabletop manger figure puppets built by

Jim Henson's Creature Shop Jim Henson's Creature Shop is an American animation and special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based in Hollywood, California, United States. History Jim Henson's Creature Shop was ...

. '' Jane Henson's Nativity Story'' premiered at the 2010 Orlando Puppet Festival. After Jane Henson's death in 2013, vignettes from the stage show were used in the CBS television special ''A New York Christmas to Remember'', narrated by

Regis Philbin Regis Francis Xavier Philbin ( ; August 25, 1931 – July 25, 2020)Archived aGhostarchiveand thWayback Machine was an American television presenter, comedian, actor, and singer. Once called "the hardest-working man in show business", he held th ...

. A tribute to Henson from family and friends was part of the national broadcast.

Personal life

Jane and

married in 1959; together they had five children:

Lisa Lisa or LISA may refer to: People People with the mononym * Lisa (Japanese musician, born 1974), stylized "LISA" * Lisa, stagename of Japanese singer Lisa Komine (born 1978) * Lisa (South Korean singer) (born 1980) * Lisa (Japanese musician, b ...

(born 1960),

Cheryl Cheryl is a feminine given name with multiple origins. The name might have originated as a combination of the name Beryl with the prefix ''Cher-'' from the French ''chérie'', meaning ''darling'' (from the past participle of the verb ''chérir'' ...

(born 1961),

Brian Brian (sometimes spelled Bryan (given name), Bryan in English) is a male given name of Irish language, Irish and Breton language, Breton origin, as well as a surname of Occitan language, Occitan origin. It is common in the English-speaking world. ...

(born 1963),

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second E ...

(1965–2014), and Heather Henson (born 1970). Although Jane and Jim had separated in 1986, they remained close until his death in 1990. In 1992, she established The Jim Henson Legacy to preserve and perpetuate the work of her husband. She served on the boards of the

Jim Henson Foundation The Jim Henson Foundation is a foundation that was founded by puppeteer and Muppet creator Jim Henson to promote and develop puppetry in the United States. Since 1992, Jim Henson's daughter Cheryl Henson has served as the president for the Found ...

and the American Center for Children's Television.Muppet Co-Founder Jane Henson to Speak at WVU
, WVU News.

Illness and death

On March 20, 2013, her daughter Cheryl revealed that her mother had

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

and was paralyzed; she asked fans to keep Jane in their prayers. Jane Henson died at the family home in

Greenwich, Connecticut Greenwich ( ) is a New England town, town in southwestern Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it had a population of 63,518. It is the largest town on Gold Coast (Connecticut), Connectic ...

, on April 2, 2013, at the age of 78. She was buried at Saint Bridge Cemetery, Cornwall, Connecticut. The 2014 film ''

Muppets Most Wanted ''Muppets Most Wanted'' is a 2014 American musical crime comedy film directed by James Bobin, produced by David Hoberman and Todd Lieberman, and written by Bobin and Nicholas Stoller. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Mandeville Films, it is ...

'' was dedicated to her and to fellow Muppet puppeteer

Jerry Nelson Jerry Nelson (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Known for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on ''Sesame Street'', ''The M ...

who died in 2012.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Henson, Jane 1934 births 2013 deaths American puppeteers Deaths from cancer in Connecticut Female puppeteers Henson family (show business) Jim Henson Entertainers from Greenwich, Connecticut People from St. Albans, Queens American television show creators University of Maryland, College Park alumni