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Whitmire

Steve Whitmire

"Stevie is a wonderful manipulator of puppets." Jim Henson on Whitmire

Steve Whitmire was born in 1959 in Atlanta, Georgia.  After High School Whitmire began working in a theme park as puppeteer.  From there, Whitmire began working in a Atlanta-based children's television show.  This broadcast was very "live," meaning it was spontanious...there was no script.  Whitmire then met Carroll Spinney (Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch) who was impressed with Whitmire's work.  Spinney made a suggestion: audition for Sesame Street.  Whitmire did audition and met Jim Henson and Frank Oz who were also impressed.  Henson and Oz then asked Whitmire to go to London for a seven-week tryout with "The Muppet Show." Whitmire continued working for the Henson Company starting with "The Muppet Show," then moving on to "Fraggle Rock," "The Animal Show," as well as taking on some of Jim Henson's characters after his death such as Kermit the Frog.

Some of the Characters Hunt Performed

Rizzo
Rizzo
Camilla
Camilla the Chicken
Fou-Fou
Foo-Foo


"[Whitmire] has a tremendous facility and that makes him very valuable to us.  If we need someone to make a puppet dance, for example, or to make a dog move like a real dog, Stevie is the obvious choice for the job.  He has the same kind of basic skills that Frank [Oz] had when he first joined us.  Like Frank when he was young, Steve is rather shy and that holds him back from doing voices, but that will come..." Jim Henson on Whitmire


Other Muppet Performers

Jim Henson | Frank Oz | Jerry Nelson

Dave Goelz | Richard Hunt | Steve Whitmire




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