Frank Oz

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Frank Oz 2012

Frank Oz (* 25. May 1944 in Hereford , England , United Kingdom , as Richard Frank Oznowicz ) is a British-American actor , puppeteer and director . Well-known characters Oz played included Miss Piggy , Fozzie Bear , Bert, and Yoda . The films Oz directed include The Little Shop of Horrors and The Stepford Women .

Live and act

Frank Oznowicz was born into a family of puppeteers. He made his first appearances in 1956 at the age of 12. In his youth, Oz played a colorful program of different numbers at supermarket openings, church festivals, birthday parties and exhibitions. Oz never had the plan to devote his career to puppetry.

In 1963, when he was 19, Oz met Jim Henson at a puppeteer meeting and then worked for him. At first, Oz did not trust himself to speak to the puppets. In his first roles for Henson, Oz played the puppets, but Henson spoke the lyrics. The collaboration known (child) grew broadcasts Sesame Street (Engl. Sesame Street ) and the Muppet Show . For Henson he played Bert (the yellow figure of the duo Ernie and Bert) from Sesame Street and Fozzie Bear, Sam the eagle, the drummer Animal and Marvin Suggs from the Muppet Show . Oz was instrumental in developing the personalities of the individual dolls. For Henson he was "the greatest puppeteer in the world."

George Lucas hired Oz as the player of the Yoda doll in the Star Wars films The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983). He returned to the role many years later for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). Oz also created the peculiar sentence structure of the wise Yoda. In the later films Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002) & Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005), Oz only gave the character his voice because Yoda was computer-animated and no doll was used. Almost 40 years after his original appearance, Oz returned one more time as the puppeteer and speaker for the character Yoda. In Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) he has a brief appearance at the side of Mark Hamill , with whom he also shared his scenes in The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi Knights .

His first directorial work with Henson was Der dunkle Kristall (Orig .: The Dark Crystal , 1982). Henson asked Oz for help with the production. The experience was so successful for Oz that he subsequently directed several films on his own. Alone, he directed the films The Muppets Take Manhattan and Little Shop of Horrors (The Little Shop of Horrors) directing. According to his own statements, he was also asked for Harry Potter films, but declined. Oz also works as a director in the theater.

In addition, Oz filled numerous smaller film roles. He played u. a. in films by John Landis , for example in the Blues Brothers , American Werewolf , Spies Like Us and The Soldiers of Fortune . In 2019 Oz was in Knives Out - Murder is a family matter.

Directorial work (selection)

Puppet and speaking roles (selection)

Awards

Remarks

  1. ↑ James W. Roman: From Daytime to Primetime: The History of American Television Programs Greenwood Publishing Group, 2005 ISBN 0313319723 , p. 216
  2. ↑ a b c Victoria Grace Weisel, Leslee Asch et al .: Muppets, Monster & Magic. The world of Jim Henson (OT: The Art of the Muppets). Deutsches Filmmuseum, Frankfurt am Main and New York 1987, ISBN 3-88799-021-8 , p. 12
  3. ↑ Terry Gross: The Man Behind Miss Piggy , National Public Radio, broadcast manuscript, November 6, 2009
  4. ↑ a b c d e Sharon Lough: The Muppets creator Frank Oz is packing his puppets away , Metro UK, September 19, 2011

Web links

Commons : Frank Oz  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Oz, Frank
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Oznowicz, Richard Frank (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British-American actor, puppeteer and director
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Hereford , England, UK