- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCaroll Edwin Spinney
- Nickname
- Spin
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- Caroll Spinney was born on December 26, 1933 in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Sesame Street (1969), The Muppet Movie (1979) and Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian (2009). He was married to Debra Spinney and Janice Spinney. He died on December 8, 2019 in Woodstock, Connecticut, USA.
- SpousesDebra Spinney(June 4, 1973 - December 8, 2019) (his death)Janice Spinney(1960 - 1971) (divorced, 3 children)
- ChildrenChild
- Performer of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch
- He made an appearance as Big Bird on an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood (1968). Before the show was taped, Fred Rogers wanted to have him remove the Big Bird outfit on the show and discuss the inner workings of it. Spinney objected to this idea, saying that it was important to preserve the sense of wonder and magic that children have about Big Bird. Rogers agreed that Spinney was right, and, instead, Big Bird appeared on the show in a Neighborhood of Make-Believe segment.
- Spinney hand drew the picture of Mr. Hooper that has been a fixture of Big Bird's Nest since he first showed it off in the famous episode "Goodbye Mr. Hooper" (1983).
- Caroll Spinney, puppeteer who gave life to Big Bird of "Sesame Street", who also gave voice and motion to Oscar the Grouch, met Muppets creator Jim Henson at a puppetry convention and first donned Big Bird's 4,000 canary yellow feathers for the opening season of Sesame Street (1969).
- Met his second wife Debra Spinney on the set of Sesame Street (1969).
- He retired from acting on "Sesame Street" for the Public Broadcasting Service on October 18, 2018.
- [on his lifelong love of performing puppetry] Somehow I was shy enough to not care about being seen. And I figured if could ever get on a TV show with a character that I enjoyed doing, it might even get famous. And voila!
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