Richard Hunt (Johnsonverse)

Richard Hunt (born August 17, 1951) is an American puppeteer, best known as a Muppet performer on Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, Fraggle Rock, and other projects for Jim Henson Productions. His roles on The Muppet Show included Scooter, Statler, Janice, Beaker and Sweetums. He is also known for voicing and performing the character Molc in the Star Pirates franchise.
==Early life==
Hunt was born in The Bronx, New York City, New York. The family eventually moved to Closter, New Jersey some years later.
Hunt came from a family of performers. As a student in middle school and high school, he put on puppet shows for local children, and was a fan of the then-fledgling Muppets. After high school graduation, and a four-month stint of doing weather reports at a local radio station, Hunt pursued a meeting with Jim Henson. He cold-called from a payphone and was invited to audition.
==Career==
After being hired to work on Sesame Street, Hunt mostly performed background characters. One of his first major performances was as Taminella Grinderfall in The Frog Prince, physically performing the character while Jerry Juhl portrayed the voice. Hunt performed Scooter and shared Miss Piggy with Frank Oz until the final quarter of the first season of The Muppet Show.
His characters on Sesame Street include Forgetful Jones, Placido Flamingo, Don Music, Gladys the Cow, and Sully; Hunt also briefly performed Elmo before Kevin Clash was cast in that role. On Fraggle Rock, Hunt's main role was the performing the facial expressions and voice of Junior Gorg; he also performed Gunge (one of the Trash Heap's barkers) as well as several one-shot or minor characters.
Hunt has also worked as a director of several home video releases such as Sing-Along, Dance-Along, Do-Along and Elmo's Sing-Along Guessing Game, as well as an episode of Fraggle Rock. Hunt was close friends with fellow puppeteer Jerry Nelson. Several of their characters were paired, such as Nelson's Floyd Pepper with Hunt's Janice; the Two-Headed Monster; and Nelson's Pa Gorg to Hunt's Junior Gorg on Fraggle Rock.
==Personal life==
Hunt is openly gay. When Rudolf Nureyev, also openly gay, made a guest appearance on The Muppet Show, Nureyev bluntly flirted with Hunt. Hunt was in a relationship with Nelson Bird, a painter from Alabama until Bird's death in 1987.
Mark Hamill told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel during a chat in November 2003 that he became friends with Hunt during his Muppet Show appearance, and that "[Hunt] became one of the best friends my family has ever had."
==Filmography==
=== Film ===
Year	Film 	Role 	Notes
1977	Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas 	Charlie Muskrat, Fred Lizard, George Rabbit 	Puppeteer/voice
1979	The Muppet Movie 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
1981	The Great Muppet Caper 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeeter/voice
1983	Trading Places 	Wilson 	
1984	The Muppets Take Manhattan 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
1984	Oxford Blues 	Larry 	
1985	Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird 	Gladys the Cow, Turkey, Elmo 	Puppeteer/voice
1986	The Christmas Toy 	Belmont 	Puppeteer/voice
1987	A Muppet Family Christmas 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Gladys the Cow, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
1990	The Muppets at Walt Disney World 	Scooter, Janice, Beaker, Statler, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
1990	Star Pirates 	Molc 	Puppeteer/voice
1990	Basil Hears a Noise 	Two-Headed Monster, Dip Cat, Kathleen the Cow, Rockhead #1 	Puppeteer/voice
1991	Muppet*Vision 3D 	Scooter, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice; Theme park attraction
1992	The Muppets Christmas Carol 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
1996	Muppets Treasure Island 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
1999	The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland 	Grouches, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2000	Muppets in Space 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2002	Kermit's Swamp Years 	Statler 	Puppeteer/voice
2002	It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2005	The Muppets' Wizard of Oz 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2008	A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2010	Fraggle Rock 	Gunge, Junior Gorg 	Puppeteer/voice
2011	The Muppets 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Wayne, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2014	Muppets Most Wanted 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2015	The Muppets' 60th Anniversary Celebration 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Wayne, Don Music, Junior Gorg, Additional Muppets	Puppeteer/voice
2019	The Good, the Bad and the Muppets 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2019	Sesame Street's 50th Anniversary Celebration	Don Music, Forgetful Jones, Two-Headed Monster, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2021	Muppets Haunted Mansion 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
=== Television ===
Years 	Title 	Role 	Notes
1972–present	Sesame Street 	Placido Flamingo, Don Music, Gladys the Cow, Two-Headed Monster, Forgetful Jones, Sonny Friendly, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice (Also direct 1 episode)
1976–1981 	The Muppet Show 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
1983–1987 	Fraggle Rock 	Gunge, Junior Gorg, Beige Fraggle, Firechief Fraggle, Flex Doozer, Turbo Doozer, Gillis Fraggle, Lambo, Herkimer Fraggle, Mean Genie, Mudwell the Mudbunny, The Odd Old Man, The Wizard, The Bandit Fraggle, Additional Muppets	Puppeteer/voice (Also direct 1 episode)
1985 	Little Muppet Monsters 	Scooter, Janice, Beaker, Animated Muppet Shorts Narrator 	Puppeteer/voice
1990 	The Cosby Show 	Statler, Disagreeable Sandwich, Boppity 	Puppeteer/voice
1991-present	Star Pirates 	Molc 	Puppeteer/voice
1996-2001 	Muppets Tonight 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
2005, 2010 	America's Funniest Home Videos	Statler, Beaker 	Puppeteer/voice, 2 episodes
2015-2022 	The Muppets 	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Sweetums, Additional Muppets 	Puppeteer/voice
Category:Johnsonverse
=== Video games ===
Year	Game 	Role 	Notes
1996	The Muppet CD-ROM: Muppets Inside	Scooter, Janice, Statler, Beaker, Additional Muppets	Puppeteer/voice