It’s the end of an era on Sesame Street: The man who has given voice and life to Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch for nearly 50 years is hanging up his big orange legs.
Caroll Spinney, 84, has performed the roles since the show’s very first episode in 1969. He had met Jim Henson at a puppetry festival in 1962, and Henson invited him to be a part of this new show he was creating.
“He said, ‘Why don’t you come down to New York and talk about the Muppets?’ ” Spinney recounted to NPR in 2003. ” ‘I have some characters I want to build. One is a tall, funny-looking bird and the other’s going to be this grouchy character who’s going to live in a pile of trash in the gutter.’ ”
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