吉姆·亨森

詹姆斯·莫瑞·“吉姆”·亨森（英语：James Maury "Jim" Henson，1936年9月24日—1990年5月16日）是美国著名木偶师，也是著名木偶剧《布偶历险记》系列之父。他曾以木偶师与配音员身份出现在许多受欢迎的电视节目中，如《芝麻街》（Sesame Street）、《大青蛙剧场》等。并曾制作如《魔水晶》（The Dark Crystal，1982）、《布偶奇遇记》（Fraggle Rock，1983-1987）与《魔幻迷宫》（Labyrinth，1986）、《好听的故事》（The Storyteller，1987-1988，电视剧）等以操偶演出为主的奇幻风格题材电影与电视剧。电视节目好听的故事和吉姆·亨森时刻让他两度获得艾美奖。他在晚期创立了吉姆亨森基金会和吉姆亨森生物工作室。

他因感染酿脓链球菌（Streptococcus pyogenes）导致肺炎，而于1990年5月16日因引发毒性休克症候群骤然离世，享年53岁。他去世时正与华特迪士尼公司洽谈出售公司事宜，但谈判在他去世后破裂。 1991年，他被追授好莱坞星光大道之星，2011年追授迪士尼传奇称号。

影视作品

仅列主要作品：

《山姆与朋友》

《芝麻街》

《大青蛙剧场》

《魔王迷宫》

《魔水晶》

《好听的故事》

《布偶奇遇记》

James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating Fraggle Rock (1983–1987) and directing The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986), as well as creating the Muppets for Sesame Street (1969–present).

Born in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in both Leland, Mississippi, and University Park, Maryland, Henson began developing puppets in high school. He created Sam and Friends (1955–1961), a short-form comedy television program on WRC-TV, while he was a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park, in collaboration with fellow student Jane Nebel. Henson and Nebel co-founded Muppets, Inc. – now The Jim Henson Company – in 1958, and married less than a year later in 1959. Henson graduated from the University of Maryland with a degree in home economics.

In 1969, Henson joined the children's television program Sesame Street, where he helped to develop Muppet characters for the series. He and his creative team also appeared on the first season of the sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (1975–present). He produced the sketch comedy television series The Muppet Show (1976–1981) during this period. Henson revolutionized the way puppetry is captured and presented in video media, and he won fame for his characters – particularly Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, and the characters on Sesame Street. During the later years of his life, he founded the Jim Henson Foundation and Jim Henson's Creature Shop. He won the Emmy Award twice for his involvement in The Storyteller (1987–1988) and The Jim Henson Hour (1989).

Henson died in New York City from toxic shock syndrome caused by Streptococcus pyogenes. At the time of his death, he was in negotiations to sell his company to The Walt Disney Company, but talks fell through after his death. He was posthumously awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991, and was named a Disney Legend in 2011.

Early life

James Maury Henson was born on September 24, 1936, in Greenville, Mississippi, the younger of two children of Betty Marcella (née Brown, 1904–1972) and Paul Ransom Henson Sr. (1904–1994), an agronomist for the United States Department of Agriculture. His elder brother, Paul, Jr, died in a car crash on April 15, 1956. Jim was raised as a Christian Scientist and spent his early childhood in nearby Leland, Mississippi, before moving with his family to University Park, Maryland, near Washington, D.C., in the late 1940s and later to Bethesda, Maryland. He remembered the arrival of the family's first television as "the biggest event of his adolescence", being heavily influenced by radio ventriloquist Edgar Bergen and the early television puppets of Burr Tillstrom on Kukla, Fran and Ollie and Bil and Cora Baird. He remained a Christian Scientist at least into his twenties, when he taught Sunday school, but he wrote to a Christian Science church in the early 1970s to inform them that he was no longer a practicing member.

Education

Henson attended a variety of grade schools in his youth, including Hyattsville High School until it was closed in 1951. He completed his high school career at the newly opened Northwestern High School, where he joined the puppetry club.

Henson enrolled at the University of Maryland, College Park, the following fall as a studio arts major, thinking that he might become a commercial artist. As a freshman at the university, Jim took a newly offered puppetry class mostly populated with seniors, including his future wife Jane Nebel. He was graduated in 1960 with a Bachelor of Science degree in home economics.