As a legendary puppeteer, voice actor, and director, Frank Oz helped shape most of our childhoods. With many memorable credits under his belt, Oz has voiced Star Wars‘ Yoda, various main characters from The Muppets and Sesame Street, and is one of the best puppeteers in the biz, known for collaborating with the late Jim Henson. Today, a candid interview was featured on The Guardian, in which Oz opens up about his current relationship with Disney, and how a deal with the company may have affected Henson’s health.
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Beloved creator of The Muppets, and much (much) more, Jim Henson unexpectedly passed away in May 1990, at the age of 53. The cause was a bacterial infection, which made his health decline rather quickly. Speaking of Henson’s untimely death, Oz mentioned the ongoing back-and-forth with studio head Michael Eisner regarding Disney buying the Muppets, stating, “The Disney deal is probably what killed Jim. It made him sick. Eisner was trying to get Sesame Street, too, which Jim wouldn’t allow. But Jim was not a dealer, he was an artist, and it was destroying him, it really was.”
Although Disney did eventually acquire the Muppets, Oz believes there is a “line between the Jim Henson Muppets and the Disney Muppets,” and goes on to say, “There’s an inability for corporate America to understand the value of something they bought. They never understood, with us, it’s not just about the puppets, it’s about the performers who love each other and have worked together for many years.”
Oz confirms that he would “love to do the Muppets again,” but says, “Disney doesn’t want me, and Sesame Street hasn’t asked me for 10 years.” He adds, “They don’t want me because I won’t follow orders and I won’t do the kind of Muppets they believe in. The soul’s not there. The soul is what makes things grow and be funny. But I miss them and love them.”
Growing up on everything Jim Henson and Frank Oz, and remaining a fanatic into adulthood, it is certainly a heartbreaking interview to read. Perhaps its time for yet another revisit of The Muppets Take Manhattan to brighten the day.
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