John Paul Henson (April 25, 1965 – February 14, 2014) was an American puppeteer. He was best known for his association with

the Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

Early years

Henson was the son of puppeteer

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'' ( ...

(1936–1990), best known as the creator of

, and Jane Henson (1934–2013), who assisted in the launch of the Muppets. He had four siblings:

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 (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) and Heather (born 1970).

Career

Henson performed Muppet character

Sweetums The Muppets are an ensemble group of comedic puppet characters originally created by Jim Henson. The Muppets have appeared in multiple television series, films, and other media appearances since the 1950s. The majority of the characters listed h ...

starting in 1992 following the death of Richard Hunt (who had trained Henson to perform the character). The role has since been passed to different puppeteers, including

David Rudman David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and ''Sesame Street''. Rudman currently performs the roles of Scooter, Janice, and Beaker for ...

, Noel MacNeal, Rob Mills and Matt Vogel, who officially assumed the role in 2009. In addition to his work with the Jim Henson Company, Henson produced independent films and worked as a production designer, animator, writer, wood worker, artist and builder. ''Zelda Catwoman of Queens'', a short film that he cowrote and produced with longtime collaborator and childhood friend filmmaker Alex Halpern, won the student Academy Award in the experimental division, just prior to his father's death in 1990.

Death

On February 14, 2014, at the age of 48, Henson died at his home in

Saugerties, New York Saugerties () is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in the northeastern corner of Ulster County, New York, Ulster County, New York (state), New York. The population was 19,038 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 c ...

, following a heart attack. His family conducted a private funeral. His body was cremated, and his ashes were given to his family.

Filmography

Television

Film

Video games

Miscellaneous

References

External links

* 1965 births 2014 deaths Henson family (show business) Jim Henson American puppeteers Entertainers from Greenwich, Connecticut People from Saugerties, New York {{US-tv-bio-stub