Drawing on hundreds of hours of new interviews with Jim Henson's family, friends, and closest collaborators, as well as unprecedented access to private family and company archives-including never-before-seen interviews, business documents, and Henson’s private letters-Brian Jay Jones explores the creation of the Muppets, Henson’s contributions to Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live, and his nearly ten year campaign to bring The Muppet Show to television.

This extraordinary biography-written with the generous cooperation of the Henson family-covers the full arc of Henson’s all-too-brief life: from his childhood in Leland, Mississippi, through the years of burgeoning fame in Washington D.C., New York, and London, to the decade of international celebrity that preceded his untimely death at age fifty-three. The Muppets made Jim Henson a household name, but they were only part of his remarkable story. He was a gentle dreamer whose genial bearded visage was recognized around the world, but most people got to know him only through the iconic characters he created: Kermit the Frog, Bert and Ernie, Miss Piggy, Big Bird. The most comprehensive biography ever written of Muppets creator Jim Henson, compiled with unprecedented access to his personal archives and with the full cooperation of the Henson familyįor the first time ever-a comprehensive biography of one of the twentieth-century’s most innovative creative artists: the incomparable, irreplaceable Jim Henson.

Jim henson by brian jay jones