Jerry Nelson

**Jerry Nelson** (July 10, 1934 – August 23, 2012) was an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Muppets. Renowned for his wide range of characters and singing abilities, he performed Muppet characters on *Sesame Street*, *The Muppet Show*, *Fraggle Rock*, and various Muppet movies and specials. He was also the creator of *Jack’s Big Music Show* as well as serving as one of the executive producers and showrunners along with being puppet captain, head songwriter and voice of Sleezo, Jack's pet Venus flytrap, along with many other characters. In fact, he did the second-most amount of character voices and had the fourth-most roles overall, behind a tie of Joey Mazzarino and Matt Vogel, Tim Lagasse and Frank Welker.

## Career

On *Sesame Street*, Nelson's longest-running character was Count von Count, the counting vampire who takes delight in counting anything (and everything) he can. Nelson did the voice and puppetry for the Count from 1972 until 2004 and continued to provide the Count's voice until his death in 2012. His other Muppet roles on that program were Herbert Birdsfoot, The Amazing Mumford, Herry Monster, Biff, Mr. Johnson, Simon Soundman, Mr. Chatterly, Frazzle, Little Jerry, and Sherlock Hemlock. He has also made a total of nine onscreen appearances on the show.

Nelson was the first puppeteer to perform Mr. Snuffleupagus, keeping the role from 1971 to 1978. Most sources (including *Sesame Street Unpaved* and *Sesame Street: A Celebration - 40 Years of Life on the Street*) state that back problems caused by the physical stress of the performance forced him to bow out, but in a 2009 interview Nelson gave a different explanation for giving up the role: "I was not loath to give that character up. But the reasons for giving it up were because at that time we were doing The Muppet Show and he was a real part of the show, and they needed his presence. So they asked if I'd mind giving it up."

Nelson also performed many characters on *The Muppet Show*, including Sgt. Floyd Pepper (the bassist of the Electric Mayhem band), Pigs in Space star Dr. Julius Strangepork, the boomerang fish-throwing Lew Zealand, Kermit the Frog's nephew Robin the Frog, Gonzo's girlfriend Camilla the Chicken, the mad pyrotechnist Crazy Harry, and "the Phantom of the Muppet Show", Uncle Deadly. He performed Statler in the pilot episode but was replaced by Richard Hunt when he could not perform full-time in the first season. He was a full-time performer for the rest of the show's run. Nelson was also selected to play Statler after Hunt's death, after the end of the show.

Less prominent characters on the show include sportscaster Louis Kazagger, Pops the doorman, giant blue monster Thog, gossip columnist Fleet Scribbler, and Scooter's uncle, J.P. Grosse, who owned the theater. He originated the role of Fozzie Bear's mother in season 2 of The Muppet Show and reprised the role in the TV specials *A Muppet Family Christmas*, *The Muppets at Walt Disney World*, and the film The *Muppet Christmas Carol*.

Nelson performed the puppet and voice of Emmet in *Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas*, a one-hour special that originally aired on HBO. He later performed the signature song from that show, "When the River Meets the Sea," as Robin, in a duet with John Denver for a Muppet Christmas special. That version of the song gets frequent radio airplay during the Christmas season (although the song is not seasonal). He and Louise Gold performed the song at Jim Henson’s Memorial Service.

On *Fraggle Rock*, he performed Gobo Fraggle, Pa Gorg, and Marjory the Trash Heap. Frank Oz did not perform on *Fraggle Rock*, and Jim Henson and Hunt limited their time on the show, so they performed supporting characters. For this reason, Nelson was asked to perform Gobo, the central role on the show.

Nelson's characters were often singers or musicians. He performed the lead vocals for many songs as Floyd of the Electric Mayhem, Little Jerry of Little Jerry and the Monotones, Slim Wilson of Lubbock Lou and his Jughuggers, and a number of Anything Muppet bands. Most of his main characters in all three shows sang songs at one time or another.

He reprised the role of the announcer in *The Muppets*. His final performance as the announcer was part of the *Jim Henson's Musical World* concert at Carnegie Hall. Archive audio of his announcer role was reused in *Muppets Most Wanted*, which was dedicated to both Nelson and Jane Henson, wife of Muppets' creator Jim Henson.

Outside of Muppet-related projects, Nelson was the voice of Theo Lion in the PBS puppet series *Between the Lions*. In 2001, Nelson also performed the character voice of General Public in the Cartoon Network animated series *Sheep in the Big City* in the episode "Daddy Shearest". In December 2009, Nelson, who summered in Truro, Massachusetts on Cape Cod, released Truro Daydreams, an album of original songs.

## Personal Life

Nelson had a daughter named Christine from his first marriage to Jacqueline Nelson Gordon. Christine had cystic fibrosis and died from the disease in 1982, after attending Rye Country Day School. Caring for her limited Nelson's involvement in *The Muppet Show*’s first season. She made a cameo appearance with him in the second Muppet movie, *The Great Muppet Caper*. He then married his second wife Jan Nelson in 1984, and they remained married until his death in 2012.

In 2004, Nelson announced that he would no longer be puppeteering his Muppet characters, citing health reasons. However, he continued to voice his characters on *Sesame Street* until his death on August 23, 2012 and *Between the Lions* until the show ended on November 22, 2010. Matt Vogel currently performs most of Nelson's Muppet characters.

## Illness and Death

Nelson suffered from prostate cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and emphysema. For the last six years of his life, he required an oxygen tank to assist his breathing. On August 23, 2012, Jerry Nelson died at his Cape Cod home from complications of his illnesses, at the age of 78. The film *Muppets Most Wanted* was dedicated to him and Jane Henson (who also died aged 78).

## Trivia

* Originally, Matt Vogel was to puppeteer and voice Sleezo; however, Vogel refused to do so, citing Tim Lagasse and Jerry Nelson to be better choices in those fields. Arrangements were made, and Lagasse and Nelson became the puppeteer and voice of Sleezo, respectively, with Vogel doing assistant puppetry.
* Nelson was the first voice actor to suffer a severe illness during production of *Jack’s Big Music Show*.
* Interestingly, *Jack's Big Music Show* was not the first time Nelson voiced a character puppeteered by Tim Lagasse. Before that show, they were the respective voice and puppeteer for Theo Lion in *Between the Lions*.