Richard Hunt

Richard Hunt (August 16, 1951 - January 7, 1992) was a longtime Muppet performer who is known for his many characters, his accomplished singing voice, and his warm backstage personality. Hunt brought many popular characters to life, including Scooter, Beaker, Janice, Statler, Sweetums, Junior Gorg, Don Music, Gladys the Cow, and Forgetful Jones. He also was the voice of Grandpa Grouch, Oscar the Grouch's grandfather.

Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson
Richard Hunt's characters were often paired with those of Jerry Nelson. On Sesame Street, Hunt's Sully was the construction worker sidekick to Nelson's Biff. Nelson's Floyd Pepper was often paired with Janice in musical numbers, and in a romantic relationship. Floyd also shared lead vocals with Scooter in the "Mr. Bassman" number. Hunt performed Sweetums alongside Nelson's Robin the Frog, the nephew of Jim Henson's Kermit the Frog, in the song "Two Lost Souls". Hunt also performed Junior Gorg, the son of Nelson's Pa Gorg.

Additionally, the two performers shared the role of the Two-Headed Monster. They also play the children in the Twiddlebug family with Hunt performing the son, Timmy Twiddlebug, and Nelson performing the daughter, Tina Twiddlebug. Another notable team-up included Hunt's role as Gunge, normally paired with Marjory the Trash Heap (a Nelson character), in addition to Dave Goelz' Philo character. Both performers had characters named after them in the band Little Jerry and the Monotones, with Hunt performing Rockin' Richard alongside Nelson's Little Jerry.

Jerry Nelson recalled the relationship:

"Richard came into the company when he was pretty young, and I kind-of took Richard under my wing, when he first came in, since Frank and Jim were sort-of a team and I was like a straight man or foil that worked off their characters. So when Richard came in, we got to a point where we would work really well together. When one of us would start to go somewhere, the other would know what was happening."

Hunt died of AIDS-related complications in 1992. Among his last productions were The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, Muppet*Vision 3D, and Billy Bunny's Animal Songs (the last of which was released in 1993, one year after his death). Following his death, Scooter was retired and absent as a character in all productions until Muppets from Space, in which he was voiced by Adam Hunt, Richard's surviving brother. Very few of Hunt's other characters (with the notable exceptions of Beaker, Statler, and Sweetums) were recast with new performers for years. Many of his other characters were relegated to silent background roles, though a few (such as Janice and Gladys the Cow) have been gradually recast since then. Scooter, as well as Janice, are now both voiced by David Rudman, a fellow Muppeteer on Sesame Street.