Waltham Native Who Played Big Bird On Sesame Street Retires

WALTHAM, MA – The man behind Sesame Street's iconic stars Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch is leaving the show Thurdsay. In an announcement this week, the Waltham native said Thursday would be his last day.

Carol Spinney who now lives in Connecticut, said this week that he'll be retiring after nearly 50 years as the voice and puppeteer for the characters.

“Big Bird brought me so many places, opened my mind and nurtured my soul,” Spinney said in a press release. “And I plan to be an ambassador for Sesame Workshop for many years to come. After all, we’re a family! But now it’s time for two performers that I have worked with and respected – and actually hand-picked for the guardianship of Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch – to take my alter-egos into their hands and continue to give them life.”

Spinney started puppeteering in his childhood and into his teens while he was at Acton-Boxborough Regional High School and used money from his performances to pay his college tuition.

After performing as a professional puppeteer throughout the 1950's and 1960's, Spinney attended a puppetry festival in 1962, where he met the man who would go on to create Sesame Street, Jim Henson.

Spinney's time as Big Bird has taken him on a number of amazing adventures, including visiting China with Bob Hope in 1979 and dancing with the Rockettes. Big Bird has received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and was named a “Living Legend” by the Library of Congress in 2000.

Everyone's large feathered friend even starred in his own film, "Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird," in 1985.

“Caroll has been one of the leading lights of "Sesame Street" from the very beginning,” Sesame Workshop Co-Founder Joan Ganz Cooney said in the release. “His genius and his talent made Big Bird the most beloved yellow feathered friend across the globe. But the sheer artistry of Caroll is that he also brought Oscar to life and made him the most lovable Grouch in the world.”

Spinney is also an author and visual artist. He has recieved the Lifetime Achievement Emmy Award, six Emmys, two Gold Records and two Grammy honors. His life and career were documented in the 2014 film "I Am Big Bird."

So what happens to Big Bird and Oscar?

Sesame Street Puppet Captain Matt Vogel who currently portrays Count von Count and Kermit the Frog is taking on Big Bird.

Oscar the Grouch will be taken over by Eric Jacobson, who also performs Grover, Bert, Fozzie Bear, Animal and Miss Piggy.

“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,” Spinney said in the release. “Even as I step down from my roles, I feel I will always be Big Bird. And even Oscar, once in a while! They have given me great joy, led me to my true calling – and my wonderful wife! – and created a lifetime of memories that I will cherish forever.”

- Additional reporting by RJ Scofield was used in this article.

Photo credits: AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File