Puppeteer

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.

Notable puppeteers

• Bil Baird
• Trace Beaulieu (Mystery Science Theater 3000s 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)
• 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 3000s 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:

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• Goethe
• Alfred Jarry
• Jean Cocteau
• Peter Brook
• Tim Blaney who provided the voice of Johnny 5 along with puppeteer work with Tony Urbano