Caroll Spinney, who played Big Bird on Sesame Street, dies aged 85

Caroll Spinney, who played Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street for nearly 50 years, has died. He was 85.

Sesame Workshop, which makes the beloved US children’s show, said Spinney died at home in Connecticut. He voiced and operated the puppets, both key characters, until he was well into his 80s.

Related: Experience: I am Big Bird

His work as the perpetually miserable Oscar the Grouch, whose distinctive gravelly voice he said he based on a New York cab driver, was widely loved. But he was best known as Big Bird.

In a 2003 memoir, The Wisdom of Big Bird (and the Dark Genius of Oscar the Grouch): Lessons from a Life in Feathers, Spinney said he “may be the most unknown famous person in America”, adding: “It’s the bird that’s famous.”

Writing for the Guardian in 2015, he elaborated on the joys of operating the 8ft feathery puppet.

He said he “worked on a few different shows before I got the job playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch in the first season of Sesame Street, in 1969. I had no idea I’d still be doing it more than 45 years later.”

“At first,” he added, “Big Bird wasn’t a major character, and Jim Henson, who developed the characters, said to play him like a goofy yokel from the country. But it felt more natural to me to play him as a child, like a big kid. When I tried it out, Jim and the writers agreed, and soon Big Bird grew into a worldwide superstar.

“I knew Sesame Street was being broadcast in other countries – 160 of them – but I didn’t know just how big it was until I was flicking through a children’s book in 1972. In the back there were pictures of kids’ cartoons. All the big guys were there: Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy, and dancing along with them were Big Bird and Oscar. I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m with Mickey Mouse!’”

Sesame Street was honoured in Washington over the weekend, during annual ceremonies at the Kennedy Center.

In his Guardian article, Spinney remembered meeting the actor Jimmy Stewart, appearing on The West Wing and Saturday Night Live and singing with Michael Jackson and Ray Charles, all as Big Bird. He also revealed some surprising news about the president and first lady of the time.

“I’ve met eight first ladies,” he added, “including Michelle Obama, and I found out Barack is my ninth cousin twice removed, although I’ve never met him. Six years ago he sent me a letter for my birthday, saying, ‘Congratulations on your first 75 years’ and it’s still hanging in our front hall.

“Michelle told me that when her daughters found out they were related to Big Bird, they squealed and danced around the kitchen.”

He also wrote about how Nasa planned to send Big Bird into space in 1986, to increase awareness of its work among children, only for the puppet to prove too big to fit in the shuttle. A teacher took his place on the Challenger mission.

“We took a break from filming to watch take-off,” he wrote, “and we all saw the ship blow apart. The six astronauts and teacher all died, and we just stood there crying.”

In 2015 Spinney was the subject of a documentary, I Am Big Bird. In its review, the Guardian said the film showed its subject to be “just the sort of kind-hearted sweetheart you’d expect, a man who’s spent a lifetime making children happy.

“… But that said, apart from a troubled childhood, an unhappy first marriage, and a murder that randomly happened on Spinney’s property, there’s not a great deal of drama.”

Spinney retired in 2018. In a statement on Sunday, the Sesame Workshop said he had lived with dystonia, a condition which causes involuntary muscle movements, “for some time”.

Related: 'We know we're more than a TV show': how Sesame Street made it to 50

“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, “and his legacy here at Sesame Workshop and in the cultural firmament will be unending.

“… Caroll gave something truly special to the world. With deepest admiration, Sesame Workshop is proud to carry his memory – and his beloved characters – into the future. Our hearts go out to Caroll’s beloved wife, Debra, and all of his children and grandchildren.”

Show co-founder Joan Ganz Cooney said Spinney’s “contributions to Sesame Street are countless. He not only gave us Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, he gave so much of himself as well. We at Sesame Workshop mourn his passing and feel an immense gratitude for all he has given to Sesame Street and to children around the world.”