Caroll Edwin Spinney was an American puppeteer, cartoonist, author, artist and speaker, most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street from its inception in 1969 until 2018.
Spinney at the 2014 Montclair Film Festival
Spinney with Oscar the Grouch, May 2014
Spinney at the New York Comic Con in Manhattan in October 2010
Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the children's television show Sesame Street. An eight-foot-two-inch-tall (249 cm) bright yellow anthropomorphic bird, he can roller skate, ice skate, dance, swim, sing, write poetry, draw, and ride a unicycle. Despite this wide array of talents, he is prone to frequent misunderstandings, on one occasion even singing the alphabet as a single word. He would refer to grocer Mr. Hooper as "Mr. Looper", among other mispronunciations. He lives in a large nest behind the 123 Sesame Street brownstone and right next to Oscar the Grouch's trash can. In Season 46, the nest sits within a small, furnished maple tree, and is no longer hidden by used construction doors. He has a teddy bear named Radar.
Big Bird (left) during filming of a 1989 episode of Sesame Street alongside then-First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush.
Harness with small monitor worn by Caroll Spinney when performing Big Bird in the 1970s
Big Bird is one of two Muppets to have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
A walk-around character of Big Bird, at a theme park.