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The Academy Award winner Ron Howard’s film “Jim Henson Idea Man,” which will debut on Disney+ on May 31, will examine Henson’s remarkable 36-year career and the development of iconic television characters like the Muppets.
Here are a few things to know about the acclaimed creator and puppeteer. Jim Henson’s early TV career and “Sesame Street”
While still in high school, Jim Henson had his first taste of broadcast puppetry. According to Biography.com, Henson began using his puppets in a Saturday morning show in Washington, D.C.
As a freshman at the University of Maryland in 1955, Henson secured a bi-weekly slot on “Sam and Friends,” a local NBC affiliate.
In 1958, the same year Henson established the Jim Henson Company, the program received a local Emmy Award. “Sam and Friends” influenced Henson’s creation of Kermit the Frog and The Muppets.
Henson produced the popular children’s program “Sesame Street” on PBS in conjunction with Children’s Television Workshop years later. Henson was the creator of popular original characters, including Big Bird, Ernie, Bert, Oscar the Grouch, Grover, Snuffulupagus, and Elmo.
In the 1970s, Jim Henson gained further notoriety because to “The Muppet Show.” He first had trouble raising funds for the show in the United States, but Lord Lew Grade, a TV producer in London, provided him with financial support.
