For the company founded by Henson, see The Jim Henson Company.

James Maury Henson, commonly known as Jim Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer in modern American television history. He was also a filmmaker, television producer, and the founder of The Jim Henson Company, the Jim Henson Foundation, and Jim Henson's Creature Shop.

He was the creator of The Muppets and the leading force behind their long creative run. Henson brought an engaging cast of characters, innovative ideas, and a sense of timing and humor to millions of people. He is also widely acknowledged for the ongoing vision of faith, friendship, magic, and love which was infused in nearly all of his work.

Early work

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Born in Greenville, Mississippi, in 1936, Henson moved with his family to Hyattsville, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., in the late 1940s. In 1954, while attending Northwestern High School, he began working for WTOP-TV creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show. The next year he created Sam and Friends, a five-minute puppet show for WRC-TV, while attending the University of Maryland, College Park. Sam and Friends were already recognizable Muppets, and the show included a primitive version of what would become Henson's signature character, Kermit the Frog. Already he was experimenting with the techniques that would change the way puppetry was used on television, notably using the frame defined by the camera shot to allow the puppeteer to work from off-camera.

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