So sad... 
Condolences to his wife and family.
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Caroll Spinney, who entertained children for nearly half a century as Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on “Sesame Street,” died on Sunday at his home in Connecticut. He was 85.
The legendary puppeteer, who retired last year, suffered for some time from dystonia, a disorder which causes involuntary muscle contractions, the Sesame Workshop said, announcing his death.
“Caroll was an artistic genius whose kind and loving view of the world helped shape and define ‘Sesame Street’ from its earliest days in 1969 through five decades,” the statement said.
”His legacy here at Sesame Workshop and in the cultural firmament will be unending.”
As the voice and operator of the two beloved Muppets from the show’s debut in 1969, Spinney racked up numerous awards and toured the world — but said his alter ego was the real star.
“I may be the most unknown famous person in Am
Born in 1933 in Waltham, Massachusetts, Spinney had an encouraging mother who built him a puppet theater after he bought his first puppet — a monkey — when he was 8.
After high school, he spent four years in the US Air Force then came home and worked on local TV shows.
His big break hatched in 1962 at a puppetry festival, when he met Muppet creator Jim Henson, who invited him to New York to discuss the characters.
To play the 8-foot-2 inch bird, Spinney — who was 5 feet 10 — maneuvered the giant yellow costume from the inside, using a TV monitor strapped to his chest as his only eyes to the outside.
The character was originally meant to be a yokel, but Spinney played him as a confused yet sweet-natured 6-year-old canary instead — and it stuck.
“Big Bird is him and he is Big Bird,” former “Sesame Street” head writer Norman Stiles said in a documentary about Spinney.
Oscar, meanwhile, was modeled on a cranky Big Apple cabbie Spinney once rode with.
The goofy avian became an international star, appearing on a Bob Hope TV special in China in 1979, scoring a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and being named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress.
The characters appeared on the big screen, in 1979’s “The Muppet Movie” and “The Muppets Take Manhattan” in 1984. Spinney’s honors include six performing Emmys, a Lifetime Achievement Emmy, two Gold Records and two Grammy awards.
On set, Spinney met his second wife Debra in 1973 and the pair remained inseparable until his death. He has three children from his first marriage.
In 2015, when chronic ailments made operating the puppets too difficult, Spinney switched to just providing the voices. Matt Vogel, Spinney’s apprentice as Big Bird since 1996, took over the role.
Spinney retired entirely in 2018.
“Big Bird brought me so many places, opened my mind and nurtured my soul,” Spinney said at the time.
“Before I came to Sesame Street, I didn’t feel like what I was doing was very important. Big Bird helped me find my purpose.”
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