Frank Oz

Richard Frank Oznowicz (b. May 25, 1944), better known as Frank Oz, is 1 of the foremost Muppeteers & Jim Henson's closest collaborator & his best friend. Oz & Henson, together, performed some of the Muppets' most famous teams -- Oz was the neat Bert to Henson's untidy Ernie, & Miss Piggy to Henson's Kermit the Frog. On Sesame Street, Oz also performed Lefty the Salesman, Grover and Cookie Monster; on The Muppet Show, he performed Fozzie Bear, Animal, Sam the Eagle, & Marvin Suggs. He also performed Uncle Hank, the uncle of Oscar the Grouch in ''[http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Sesame_Street_Stays_Up_Late! Sesame Street Stays Up Late!]''

Early Years
Richard "Frank" Oznowicz was born in England, spent parts of his childhood in Belgium, & moved to America when he was 5. The son of puppeteers Isadore "Mike" Oznowicz & his wife Frances, with 2 siblings, young Frank was performing as part of the Oznowicz Family Marionettes troupe by age 12. Despite this background, "I don't have a love of puppets," Oz explained in a 1987 interview "I did it as a means of expression. I was able to express myself & please my parents. It was also safe to hide behind puppets because at that point I was a little shy.". He had no desire to go into puppeteering professionally: "I just did it as a hobby to get some money--I really wanted to be a journalist."

Beginning w/ Henson
At age 17, Oz first met Jim Henson at the Puppeteers of America festival in California. His first impression of Henson was as "this very quiet, shy guy who did these absolutely ******* amazing puppets that were totally brand new & fresh, that had never been done before." At age 19, he joined the burgeoning Muppets, Inc. as a right hand for Rowlf the Dog in variety appearances and later on The Jimmy Dean Show. It was here that Jimmy Dean introduced him as "Frank Oz...," mumbling the last part of his name. Thus, Oz began using the shortened form of his name that he's known by today.

He also worked on commercials, replacing Jim's wife, Jane Henson as key assistant. While Henson dubbed all the voices, he & Oz would alternate when performing such buddy duos as Scoop & Skip, & the new puppeteer assisted on such characters as the Southern Colonel & Nutty Bird. His most notable commercial role was as Delbert the La Choy Dragon. This was Oz's first, & 1 of his very few, experiences, as a full-bodied puppet performer, & 1 which he didn't relish: "I hated it. I hated doing it totally. Jim knew I hated it. I think he relished it. The La Choy dragon was a *****. I was totally blind in there. I always hated being inside characters, but I was the main performer & that was my job."

Sesame Street
Eventually, on Sesame Street, Frank Oz had originated the characters Cookie Monster, Grover, & Bert, & he performed them exclusively for nearly 30 years. During this time, he performed a great number of minor characters, including Lefty the Salesman, Prince Charming, & Harvey Kneeslapper. He was also offered the role of Big Bird, but because of his experience as the La Choy Dragon, he turned the role down.

Commenting on his performing habits, Fran Brill noted that Oz would often put his hand on top of whoever was doing right hands so they couldn't gesture too much.

According to the book Sesame Street Unpaved, during the show's early years Oz was in almost every sketch, but by 1998 he only appeared on the Sesame Street set 4 days a year, performing nearly 15 sketches w/ his characters during those 4 days. As of 2006, he still tapes appearances during a limited schedule for new segments. He performed Grover in the 2006 direct-to-video production Elmo's Potty Time, & has performed in material produced for season 40.

The Muppet Show
Frank Oz was 1 of The Muppet Show's main performers, performing several of the show's stars. He performed Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, & Animal, & secondary characters Sam the Eagle, George the Janitor, Gramps, & Marvin Suggs.

Fozzie Bear was originally intended to be his main character, & Miss Piggy was originally meant to only be a supporting character. In fact, during the 1st few episodes of season 1, Oz shared the role of Miss Piggy w/ fellow Muppeteer, Richard Hunt. Once the writers & producers realized that Miss Piggy was more than just a 1-joke character, & had more star potential than Fozzie Bear, Miss Piggy became a major part of the Muppet cast, & Frank Oz performed her full-time.

In addition to performing these main characters, Oz also normally performed the hands of The Swedish Chef while Jim Henson performed the body & voice. During these sketches, Oz would often do something unexpected with the hands, without telling Jim beforehand. The Muppet Morsels quote Oz as saying that the best Swedish Chef sketches were unrehearsed.

In addition to performing, Frank Oz also wrote the songs "The Rhyming Song" & "Jamboree". He was also credited on The Muppet Show as a creative consultant.



Frank Oz & Jim Henson
It was w/ the many characters on which the 2 collaborated. Together, Jim Henson & Frank Oz made such memorable pairings as Ernie & Bert, Kermit the Frog & Miss Piggy, & the aforementioned Swedish Chef. 3 other characters that Oz performed, Fozzie Bear, Grover & Cookie Monster, would play off of Kermit on numerous occasions, & there was also Lefty the Salesman, who was always trying to fool poor Ernie. Other pairings of the team's characters include Rowlf the Dog & Fozzie. Also, when it came time for Dr. Teeth & the Electric Mayhem to perform a number on any Muppet Show episode, Henson's Dr. Teeth & Oz's Animal were always positioned right next to each other on the bandstand. Also, in episode 302, when guest star Leo Sayer had asked to meet Animal, Dr. Teeth brought Animal into Leo's dressing room. As in the case of Kermit & Miss Piggy, Henson's characters often became the victim of Oz's characters, and vice versa. For example, Kermit became Marvin Suggs' victim in episode 506 of The Muppet Show, as well as Oz's character of Animal. The 1st time this occurred was in episode 110, when Animal beat on Kermit like a drum to make Kermit forget about replacing Animal as the show's drummer. They also worked together in the early 1980s while co-directing/performing in The Dark Crystal. They also played the parents in the Twiddlebug family with Henson performing the father, Thomas Twiddlebug, & with Oz performing the mother, Tessie Twiddlebug. It can be seen clearly that Jim & Frank were just as close as their primary characters of Sesame Street, Bert & Ernie, respectively, are today.

Michael K. Frith says that Henson & Oz's work was inspiring:

"I've always said, & I still believe, that we all basically rode on the coat tails of Jim Henson & Frank Oz. They were a comedy duo that is up there with Laurel & Hardy. I mean, they had that sense of timing, they had that sense of play between themselves, they had the ability to understand each others characters & play off them with their characters.""

Current Muppet Status
Starting in the mid-1990s, after 30+ years of Muppet performing, Oz began to transition himself away from his Muppet duties to focus on directing. He occasionally performs his characters on Sesame Street, but following Muppets from Space, his 4 classic Muppet Show characters have been recast to Eric Jacobson, who has also mostly taken over Bert & Grover, while David Rudman has become the new voice for Cookie Monster. Although, apparently, as both David & Eric have once said, Oz normally comes in 4 or 5 times a year, & will do a "Bert Day," "Grover Day," "Cookie Day," etc.