Richard Hunt (puppeteer)

Richard Hunt
Born	August 17, 1951[1] The Bronx, New York, U.S.
Died	January 7, 1992 (aged 40) Manhattan, New York City, U.S.
Cause of death	AIDS
Occupation	Puppeteer[2]
Years active	1969–1992

Richard Hunt (August 17, 1951^[1] – January 7, 1992) was an American puppeteer, best known as a Muppet performer. Hunt's Muppet roles included Scooter, Statler, Janice, Beaker and Sweetums.

Early life

Hunt was born in The Bronx, New York City on August 17, 1951, the second of five children. The family eventually moved to Closter, New Jersey some years later.

Because everyone in his family had worked in show business at some point, Hunt always felt he would end up in entertainment as well. While in middle school and high school, he put on puppet shows for local children, and he was a fan of the then-fledgling Muppets from a young age. After high school graduation and a four-month stint of doing weather reports at a local radio station, Hunt pursued a meeting with Jim Henson.^[3]

Career

After being hired to work on Sesame Street, Hunt mostly performed background characters in early specials. One of his first major performances was as Taminella Grinderfall in The Frog Prince, puppeteering the character while Jerry Juhl performed the voice.^[4]

He also did Scooter and shared Miss Piggy with Frank Oz until the final quarter of the first season of The Muppet Show. Hunt performed many characters on Sesame Street, including Forgetful Jones, Placido Flamingo, Don Music, Gladys the Cow, Sully, and an early version of Elmo. On Fraggle Rock, Hunt's main role was the performing the facial expressions and voice of Junior Gorg, but he also performed Gunge (one of the Trash Heap's barkers), and several one-shot or minor characters.

He has also directed several home videos such as Sing-Along, Dance-Along, Do-Along and Elmo's Sing-Along Guessing Game, as well as an episode of Fraggle Rock.

Hunt was good friends with fellow puppeteer Jerry Nelson. A lot of their characters were paired together such as Nelson's Floyd Pepper with Hunt's Janice; the Two-Headed Monster; and Nelson's Pa Gorg to Hunt's Junior Gorg on Fraggle Rock. Also on that show, Hunt's characters were often paired with those performed by Steve Whitmire.

Personal life

Hunt was openly gay.^[5] When Rudolf Nureyev, who was also openly gay, made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show, Nureyev rather bluntly flirted with Hunt.^[6] Hunt was close friends with Star Wars actor Mark Hamill.

Death

On January 7, 1992, Hunt died of AIDS related complications, in the Cabrini Hospice, Manhattan, at the age of 40.^[7] Episode 3136 of Sesame Street, as well as The Muppet Christmas Carol were dedicated to his memory.

Following his death, his roles were taken over by David Rudman, Steve Whitmire, Matt Vogel, and Jerry Nelson.

Filmography

Film
Year	Film	Role	Notes
1979	The Muppet Movie	Scooter, Beaker, Sweetums, various	Puppeteer/voice
1981	The Great Muppet Caper	Beaker, Scooter, Sweetums, various	Puppeeter/voice
1983	Trading Places	Wilson
1984	The Muppets Take Manhattan	Beaker, Scooter, various	Puppeteer/voice
1984	Oxford Blues	Larry
1985	Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird	Gladys the Cow, Turkey	Puppeteer/voice
1987	A Muppet Family Christmas	Scooter, Beaker, Sweetums, Placido Flamingo, Don Music, Gladys the Cow, various	Puppeteer/voice
1990	The Muppets at Walt Disney World	Beaker, Scooter, various	Puppeteer/voice
1990	The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson	Scooter, Janice	Puppeteer/voice
1991	Muppet*Vision 3D	Beaker, Scooter, Sweetums, various	Puppeteer/voice; Theme park attraction

Television
Years	Title	Role	Notes
1969–1992	Sesame Street	Placido Flamingo, Don Music, Gladys the Cow, Forgetful Jones, various
1976–1981	The Muppet Show	Statler, Beaker, Scooter, Sweetums, Janice, various
1983–1987	Fraggle Rock	Gunge, Junior Gorg, Beige Fraggle, Firechief Fraggle, Flex Doozer, Gillis Fraggle, Lambo, Herkimer Fraggle, Mean Genie, Mudwell the Mudbunny, The Odd Old Man, various
1990	The Cosby Show	Statler and Disagreeable Sandwich

References

1. Interview, Jessica Max Stein, August 17, 2011
2. "Richard Hunt; Puppeteer for 'Sesame Street,' 'Muppet Show'". Los Angeles Times. January 11, 1992. Retrieved 2010-12-19.
3. Finch, Christopher (1993), Jim Henson: The Works, Random House, ISBN 0-679-41203-4
4. Ask Henson, question 60, archived from the original on 3 October 2000
5. Stein, Jessica Max (2011). "The Rainbow Connection: Richard Hunt, Gay Muppeteer". Retrieved 20 July 2012.
6. Kaiser, Charles (1997), The Gay Metropolis: The Landmark History of Gay Life in America, Grove Press, ISBN 978-0-395-65781-2
7. "Richard Hunt; Puppeteer, 40". The New York Times. Retrieved 4 April 2013.

External links

• Richard Hunt at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Hunt at Find a Grave
• Muppet Central's Tribute to Richard Hunt