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Learn about the life and career of Richard Hunt, an American puppeteer who performed Scooter, Janice, Beaker, and other Muppets. Find out how he died of AIDS, who he was close to, and who inherited his roles.
- Overview
- Early Years
- Sesame Street Works
- Muppet Show Antics
- Fraggle Rock
- Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson
- Later Years
- Death
- Puppeteer Credits
- Notes
Richard Hunt (August 17, 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 and Forgetful Jones.
Richard Henry Hunt was born in The Bronx, New York City, the second of five children and the first of two sons. The family eventually moved to Closter, New Jersey in September 1959, shortly after Hunt turned eight.
Because everyone in his family had worked in show business at some point, Hunt always felt he'd end up in entertainment, too. 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. "I'd drop anything to watch them," he said, "I thought they were weird."
After high school graduation and a four-month stint of doing weather reports at a local radio station, Hunt had his first inkling that he might join the Muppets. Hunt's mother, Jane, recalled Hunt's first meeting with Jim Henson:
His first project was The Great Santa Claus Switch in 1970, along with Fran Brill. A few weeks later, he was invited to be in a workshop production. The newcomer was so good, Henson asked him to work a Muppet appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. Again he scored high marks, and in June 1972, Richard Hunt was hired full-time on Sesame Street.
Hunt first worked on Sesame Street as a background puppeteer, assisting other performers with characters (manipulating the right hands of certain characters, and performing the back half of Mr. Snuffleupagus) or performing characters to pre-recorded tracks. Hunt gradually became one of the main Muppeteers, performing such characters as Sully, Gladys the Cow, Don Music, and Forgetful Jones. He also appeared in the flesh on Episode 1576 as Cedrick the birdwatcher, alongside Madeline Kahn.
Although a main performer on the show, none of Richard Hunt's Sesame Street characters became major characters in the same way as Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and Elmo (who Hunt actually performed as a minor character during the 1984 taping season). Even after he was established as one of the major performers, Hunt participated in Sesame Street productions (such as Christmas Eve on Sesame Street and Don't Eat the Pictures) where he didn't perform character voices.
Richard Hunt was one of the main performers on The Muppet Show, and one of five regular performers on all five seasons. His main character was Scooter, but he also performed Beaker, Statler, Janice, and Sweetums. During the first season, he shared the role of Miss Piggy with Frank Oz, but by the end of the first season, Piggy became Oz's main character, and Hunt no longer performed her.
Richard Hunt has also been noted for his fine singing voice. As Scooter, he sang such songs as "Six String Orchestra" and "There's a New Sound." He also performed Wayne, who was part of the singing duo Wayne and Wanda, and though the two stopped appearing after the second season, Wayne eventually came back to make solo appearances every now and then, singing such songs as "Catch a Falling Star" and "For Me and Gargoyle." Despite Hunt's singing voice and the fact that Janice was a musician, Janice seldom sang lead vocals in songs. She did have two major lead-singing performances, singing "With a Little Help From My Friends" and "Rockin' Robin."
On Fraggle Rock, Richard Hunt had two major characters, Junior Gorg and Gunge. He also performed many minor and one-shot guest characters, and he originally performed The Storyteller Fraggle (before Terry Angus took over). Richard Hunt was most involved with the show during its first season, since unlike Sprocket or the main five Fraggles, his characters weren't needed for every (or almost every) episode. After that season, as the background performers began to do more character voices on the show, Hunt performed less frequently on the series, spending his extra time on Sesame Street. According to Terry Angus, "After the first season, Richard didn't come in as much, because his characters weren't really called for that often and all of us Canadians were given a chance to do characters every now and then which gave Richard an easier time of it. Plus, he was going down to work on Sesame Street."
Richard Hunt also assisted in the audition process for background puppeteers on Fraggle Rock. He made his directorial debut with the fifth season episode "The Honk of Honks." He also made a cameo as himself ("The Boss" director) in Fraggles Look for Jobs, the show's wrap tape.
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. Floyd also shared lead vocals with Scooter in the "Mr. Bassman" number. Hunt performed Sweetums alongside Nelson's Robin 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's 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.
During the late 1980s, Richard Hunt was still active in new productions and performing new characters. He performed Tug Monster on the short-lived Little Muppet Monsters series, and The Wild Impresario on the short-lived Ghost of Faffner Hall. In specials, he performed Lugsy in The Tale of the Bunny Picnic and Belmont in The Christmas Toy.
Hunt also occasionally appeared on-screen in movies and television productions. He made an on-screen cameo as a taxi driver in The Great Muppet Caper, he played the role of Wilson in Trading Places (which also featured fellow Muppeteer Frank Oz), and he played the role of Larry in Oxford Blues. He also played the role of Del in Jim Henson's failed pilot Puppetman. He also spent an hour entertaining the audience during the taping of The Fantastic Miss Piggy Show. In addition to directing the aforementioned Fraggle Rock episode, Richard Hunt also directed the 1988 direct-to-video production Sing-Along, Dance-Along, Do-Along. He also directed several Muppet inserts for Sesame Street during season 17, receiving onscreen credit as a segment director in the videos Elmo's Sing-Along Guessing Game and The Best of Elmo.
Hunt died of AIDS-related complications in 1992. Among his last productions were The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, Muppet*Vision 3D, Sing, Hoot & Howl with the Sesame Street Animals, and Billy Bunny's Animal Songs (the last of which was released in 1993, one year after his death). Several episodes of Sesame Street’s 23rd season featuring new Hunt performances aired posthumously as well.
In the period immediately following his death, few of Hunt's characters (with the notable exceptions of Beaker, Statler, and Sweetums) were recast with new performers. Scooter was retired and absent as a character in all Muppet productions until Muppets from Space. On Sesame Street, characters originated by Hunt have usually appeared in background cameos, though over time, some (such as Gladys the Cow) have been gradually recast and made recurring appearances. By the 2000s, most of Hunt's main Muppet Show characters were inherited by other major performers like Steve Whitmire and David Rudman.
Hunt was cremated. His ashes were scattered in three locations: the flower garden at the Hunt family home in New Jersey; Hunt's summer home in Truro, Massachusetts; and a canal in Venice where he had previously scattered the ashes of his late partner Nelson Bird. Many panels were created in his honor for the NAMES Project AIDS Quilt, including one created by his friends in The Muppet Workshop.
Jon Stone, former director of Sesame Street, said this at the time of Hunt's death:
•The Muppet Show Characters: Scooter, Beaker, Statler, Janice, Sweetums, and others...
•Sesame Street Characters: Forgetful Jones, Don Music, Gladys the Cow, Two-Headed Monster, Sully, Placido Flamingo, and others...
•Fraggle Rock: Junior Gorg, Gunge, and others...
•The Great Santa Claus Switch: Bing
•The Ed Sullivan Show: Harrison
•The Frog Prince: Taminella Grinderfall (puppetry only)
•The Muppet Christmas Carol is dedicated "In loving memory of Jim Henson and Richard Hunt".
•The book Jim Henson: The Works and the Sesame Street album We Are All Earthlings, both released in 1993, were dedicated to the memory of Richard Hunt.
Richard Hunt (1951-1992) was a puppeteer and voice actor for Jim Henson's Muppets. He performed many characters, such as Scooter, Janice, Statler, and Gladys the Cow, and won a Primetime Emmy for his work.
- January 1, 1
- Bronx, New York City, New York, USA
- January 1, 1
- New York City, New York, USA
Richard Hunt (August 17, 1951 – January 7, 1992) was an American puppeteer, best known as a Muppet performer on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and other projects for The Jim Henson Company.
Jan 9, 1992 · The Seattle Times reports the death of Richard Hunt, a performer who gave life to scores of characters on "Sesame Street," "Fraggle Rock" and "The Muppet Show." He died of complications from AIDS in 1992 at age 40.
'Scooter', 'Janice', 'Sweetums' and a few others, were some of the "Muppets" that Richard was a performer and puppeteer of. He helped pave the way for Jim Henson and his company from the 1970s through the early 90s, until his surprising death in 1992 of AIDS.
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