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• Jim Henson was born James Maury Henson on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi
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By his freshman year at the University of Maryland, in 1955, Henson had scored a bi-weekly bit on a local NBC affiliate, Sam and Friends.
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Sam and friends scored a local Emmy Award in 1958
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jim henson founded the jim henson company
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The first Muppet to gain national exposure, Rowlf the Dog, he went from making appearances in Purina commercials to playing a sidekick on The Jimmy Dean Show in 1963
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Henson began experimenting with short films, including 1965's Academy Award-nominated Time Piece
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in 1969, Henson teamed up with Children’s Television Workshop to produce the now-classic children's show on PBS, Sesame Street
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Henson's even bigger claim to TV fame came in the 1970s, with the debut of The Muppet Show. Surprisingly, Henson had a challenging time getting the show financed in the United States, but eventually found the support needed with London-based TV producer Lord Lew Grade.
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In 1975, at Grade's ATV Studios, Henson and his crew created Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal, Gonzo, Scooter and the rest of The Muppet Show ensemble
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"When I was young, my ambition was to be one of the people who made a difference in this world. My hope is to leave the world a little better for having been there." "My hope still is to leave the world a bit better than when I got here"
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The hit series, with Kermit as the host, premiered in 1976.
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The Muppet Show also led to feature films for Henson, including The Muppet Movie in 1979, and an animated TV spin-off, Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies, that garnered four consecutive Emmys (outstanding animated program).
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Henson didn’t limit his TV puppetry to his original Muppets. In the 1980s, he developed the TV series Fraggle Rock, The Jim Henson Hour and Jim Henson's The Storyteller
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Mr. Henson started making movies, including 1982’s The Dark Crystal, a groundbreaking film mixing puppetry and animatronics, and 1986’s Labyrinth, which was produced by George Lucas and starred David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly
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on May 16, 1990, following a brief and unexpected bout of streptococcus pneumonia, Henson died at the age of 53. His moving yet celebratory funeral included a musical puppet performance. Big Bird himself walked in to pay his respect and sing, "It’s Not Easy Being Green."
