Editing Jim Henson (section)

==Career==
===Education===
Henson attended a variety of grade schools in his youth, including Hyattsville High School until it was closed in 1951. He completed his high school career at the newly opened [[Northwestern High School (Hyattsville, Maryland)|Northwestern High School]], where he joined the puppetry club.

He enrolled at the [[University of Maryland, College Park]], the following fall as a studio arts major, thinking that he might become a commercial artist.{{sfn|Finch|1993|p=9}} As a freshman at the university, Jim took a newly offered puppetry class mostly populated with seniors, including his future wife [[Jane Henson|Jane Nebel]].<!--She took the surname Henson after her marriage, thus, per https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Manual_of_Style/Biography#People_with_the_same_surname , is referred to by name as "Jane" to distinguish her from "Jim".--> He graduated in 1960 with a [[Bachelor of Science]] degree in [[home economics]].

===Early career: 1954–1961===
Henson began working at [[WUSA (TV)|WTOP-TV]] (now WUSA-TV) in the late spring of 1954, at age {{Age in years|1936|09|24|1954|06|01}}<!-- Age calculated as of June for "late spring" -->, hired to "manipulate marionettes"{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=33}} on a Saturday morning children's show called ''The Junior Morning Show'', until the show was cancelled only three weeks later. This first break into the television industry was short-lived, but his talent landed him and his puppets an opportunity to continue working at WTOP-TV, [[lip-syncing]] on Roy Meachum's ''Saturday'' show.{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=33-35}}

Henson's employment at WTOP-TV lasted only until August, when ''Saturday'' was also cancelled. Meachum then referred Jim to the local NBC-affiliate station WRC-TV, where Henson continued performing his puppets with Jane's help. The two were eventually offered a nightly segment{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=44}} for which they created ''[[Sam and Friends]]'', a three-to-five-minute puppet show that afforded Henson much more freedom to develop his own creative work. The characters on ''Sam and Friends'' were forerunners of the Muppets, and the show included a prototype of Henson's most famous character, Kermit the Frog.{{sfn|Finch|1993|p=102}} He remained at WRC until ''Sam and Friends'' aired its last episode on December 15, 1961.{{sfn|Jones|2013|p=91}}

In the show, Henson began experimenting with techniques that changed the way in which puppetry was used on television, foregoing the convention of pointing the camera at a stationary [[puppet theatre]] [[proscenium]] and instead using the image created by the [[TV camera]] and [[Camera lens|lens]] to dynamically engage with his characters.{{Sfn|Finch|1993|p=18}} He believed that television puppets needed to have "life and sensitivity".<ref name="timehundred">{{cite news |last=Collins |first=James |date=June 8, 1998 |title=Time 100: Jim Henson |url=http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/henson.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070428125811/http://www.time.com/time/time100/artists/profile/henson.html |archive-date=April 28, 2007 |access-date=May 1, 2007 |magazine=Time}}</ref> Rather than carving wooden puppets Henson built characters from softer, flexible materials like foam rubber;<ref name="sippi2">{{cite web |last=Padgett |first=John B. |date=February 17, 1999 |title=Jim Henson |url=http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/henson_jim/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070829001157/http://www.olemiss.edu/mwp/dir/henson_jim/index.html |archive-date=August 29, 2007 |access-date=June 19, 2007 |work=The Mississippi Writers Page |publisher=[[University of Mississippi]] Department of English}}</ref> his first iteration of Kermit was made from a halved [[Table tennis#Ball|table tennis ball]] and fabric from an old coat belonging to his mother, with denim from a pair of jeans forming the sleeve for the puppeteer's arm.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Original Kermit Puppet |url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_1396955 |access-date=2024-05-05 |website=americanhistory.si.edu |language=en |archive-date=May 5, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240505193556/https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/nmah_1396955 |url-status=live }}</ref>

Though Henson told people that "Muppet" was a [[portmanteau]] of "[[Puppet#Marionette|marionette]]" and "[[Puppet]]",{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=41}} many early Muppets were actually [[Puppet#Hand puppet or glove puppet|hand puppets]], [[Puppet#Rod puppet|rod puppets]], or some combination of the two. Direct control over the puppet's mouth, in combination with the softer construction materials, allowed the puppeteer to express a wider range of emotions and to more accurately move the puppet's mouth along with the character's dialogue or while [[Lip sync|lip-syncing]] to music. Commenting on his puppet design philosophy, Henson said,<blockquote>''"A lot of people build very stiff puppets—you can barely move the things—and you can get very little expression out of a character that you can barely move. Your hand has a lot of flexibility to it, and what you want to do is to build a puppet that can reflect all that flexibility."{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=47}}''</blockquote>''Sam and Friends'' was a financial success, but Henson began to have doubts about going into a career performing with puppets once he graduated. He spent six weeks in Europe during the summer of 1958, originally with the intent to study painting, but was surprised to learn that puppets were considered just as serious of an art form as painting or sculpture. After returning to the United States he and Jane made their partnership official, creating Muppets, Inc. in November of that same year,<ref>{{Cite web |title="Muppets, Inc." Certificate of Incorporation – 1958-11-20 |url=https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/2/25/CertificateOfIncorporation.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091222203256mpany |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815083713/https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/muppet/images/2/25/CertificateOfIncorporation.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091222203256 |archive-date=2022-08-15 |access-date=2024-05-08 |website=Muppet Wiki |language=en}}</ref> then marrying each other in 1959.{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=73-77}}

===Television and Muppets: 1961–1969===
Henson spent much of the next two decades working in commercials, talk shows, and children's projects before realizing his dream of the Muppets as "entertainment for everybody".<ref name="nyobit"/> The popularity of his work on ''Sam and Friends'' in the late 1950s led to a series of guest appearances on network talk and variety shows. He appeared as a guest on many shows, including ''[[The Steve Allen Show]]'', ''[[Jack Paar|The Jack Paar Program]]'', and ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]''. (Sullivan introduced him as "Jim Newsom and his Puppets" on September 11, 1966.) These television broadcasts greatly increased his exposure, leading to hundreds of commercial appearances by Henson characters throughout the 1960s.{{Sfn|Finch|1993|p=22}}

Among the most popular of Henson's commercials was a series for the local Wilkins Coffee company in [[Washington, D.C.]], created for a campaign managed by advertising manager [[Helen Ver Standig]].<ref name="central">{{cite news |last=Harris |first=Judy |url=http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/jim1.shtml |title=Muppet Master: An Interview with Jim Henson |via=Muppet Central |date=September 21, 1998 |access-date=May 5, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926003558/http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/interviews/jim1.shtml |archive-date=September 26, 2015}}</ref> Most of the Wilkins advertisements followed a similar formula: two Muppets, in this case named [[Wilkins and Wontkins]] (usually both voiced by Henson), would appear. Wilkins would extol the product while Wontkins would express his hatred for it, prompting physical retaliation from Wilkins; Wontkins might be shot with a cannon, struck in the head with a hammer or baseball bat, or have a pie thrown in his face.<ref>{{cite video |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPVDw7h-nSQ | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201102094020/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPVDw7h-nSQ&feature=youtu.be&t=1439| archive-date=2020-11-02 | url-status=dead|title=Wilkins and Wontkins commercials |via=[[YouTube]]}}</ref> The Jim Henson Company has posted a short selection of them.<ref>{{cite video |url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVewx3-9x24 |title=Wilkins Coffee Commercials |via=YouTube |access-date=February 20, 2021 |archive-date=February 5, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210205183955/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVewx3-9x24 |url-status=live }}</ref> Henson later explained, "Till then, advertising agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh."{{sfn|Finch|1993|p=22}}

The first seven-second commercials for Wilkins were an immediate hit and were later remade for other local coffee companies throughout the United States, such as [[Community Coffee]], [[Red Diamond]] Coffee, La Touraine Coffee, [[Nash Finch Company|Nash's Coffee]], and Jomar Instant coffee.<ref name="central"/> The characters were so successful in selling coffee that soon other companies began seeking them to promote their products, such as bakeries like [[Merita Breads]], service station chains such as [[Standard Oil of Ohio]] and the [[Downstream (petroleum industry)|downstream]] [[Marathon Petroleum|assets]] of [[Marathon Oil]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeMvb01BTIY|title=Marathon Gas – Jim's Red Book – The Jim Henson Company|date=January 25, 2013 |via=[[YouTube]]|access-date=August 24, 2023|archive-date=August 24, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230824021307/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yeMvb01BTIY|url-status=live}}</ref> and beverage bottlers such as [[Faygo]]. Over 300 "Wilkins and Wontkins" commercials were made.{{sfn|Finch|1993|p=22}} The ads were primarily produced in black and white, but some color examples also exist.

Henson sold the rights to Wilkins and Wontkins to the Wilkins Company, who allowed marketing executive John T. Brady to sell the rights to some toymakers and film studios. However, in July 1992 Brady was sued by Jim Henson Productions for unfair competition in addition to copyright and trademark infringement. The Henson company claimed that Brady was incorrectly using Henson's name and likeness in their attempts to license the characters.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/18/business/moi-involved-in-a-copyright-infringement-suit.html |title=Moi? Involved in a Copyright-Infringement Suit? |date=July 18, 1992 |work=[[The New York Times]] |page=5 |language=en-US |access-date=July 15, 2019 |archive-date=July 15, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190715211656/https://www.nytimes.com/1992/07/18/business/moi-involved-in-a-copyright-infringement-suit.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

In 1963, Henson and his wife moved to New York City where the newly formed [[The Jim Henson Company|Muppets, Inc.]] resided for some time. Jane quit performing to raise their children, and Henson hired writer [[Jerry Juhl]] in 1961 and puppet performer [[Frank Oz]] in 1963 to replace her.<ref name="oz">{{cite interview |last=Plume |first=Kenneth |title=Interview with Frank Oz |website=IGN |date=February 10, 2000 |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2000/02/10/interview-with-frank-oz-part-1-of-4 |access-date=May 6, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070228032836/http://movies.ign.com/articles/035/035842p1.html |archive-date=February 28, 2007 }}</ref> Henson credited them both with developing much of the humor and character of his Muppets.<ref name="hands">{{cite news |last=Freeman |first=Don |title=Muppets on His Hands |work=The Saturday Evening Post |year=1979 |pages=50–53, 126}}</ref> Henson and Oz developed a close friendship and a performing partnership that lasted until Henson's death; their teamwork is particularly evident in their portrayals of [[Bert and Ernie]], Kermit and [[Miss Piggy]], and Kermit and [[Fozzie Bear]].<ref name="lifemag">{{cite magazine |last=Harrigan |first=Stephen |url=http://www.muppetcentral.com/articles/tributes/henson/hensonarticle6.shtml |title=It's Not Easy Being Blue |magazine=Life |date=July 1990 |access-date=May 6, 2007 |via=Muppet Central |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070805055823/http://muppetcentral.com/articles/tributes/henson/hensonarticle6.shtml |archive-date=August 5, 2007 }}</ref> In New York City, Henson formed a partnership with [[Bernie Brillstein]], who managed Henson's career until the puppeteer's death.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Brillstein |first1=Bernie |last2=Rensin |first2=David |title=Where Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead |year=1999 |pages=54–55 |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |isbn=978-0-316-11885-9}}</ref> In the years that followed, more performers joined Henson's team, including [[Jerry Nelson]], [[Richard Hunt (puppeteer)|Richard Hunt]], [[Dave Goelz]], [[Steve Whitmire]], [[Fran Brill]], and [[Kevin Clash]].

In 1964, he and his family moved to [[Greenwich, Connecticut]], where they lived until 1971, when they moved to [[Bedford (town), New York|Bedford, New York]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=DeRosa |first1=Andrew |title=Jim Henson's CT years: Experimental films and the rise of 'Sesame Street' |url=https://www.ctinsider.com/entertainment/article/Jim-Henson-CT-greenwich-sesame-street-16750864.php |website=CT Insider |date=January 19, 2022 |publisher=Hearst Connecticut Media |access-date=8 February 2022 |archive-date=February 8, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220208015630/https://www.ctinsider.com/entertainment/article/Jim-Henson-CT-greenwich-sesame-street-16750864.php |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Henson's talk show appearances culminated when he devised [[Rowlf the Dog|Rowlf]], a piano-playing anthropomorphic dog that became the first Muppet to make regular appearances on ''[[The Jimmy Dean Show]]''. Henson was so grateful for this break that he offered [[Jimmy Dean]] a 40-percent interest in his production company, but Dean declined, stating that Henson deserved all the rewards for his own work, a decision of conscience that Dean never regretted.<ref>{{cite web |title=A Hell of a Man Himself |url=http://thebluegrassspecial.com/archive/2010/july10/jimmy-dean-news-notes.php |publisher=The Bluegrass Special.com |access-date=October 18, 2011 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111020154333/http://thebluegrassspecial.com/archive/2010/july10/jimmy-dean-news-notes.php |archive-date=October 20, 2011 }}</ref> From 1963 to 1966, Henson began exploring filmmaking and produced a series of experimental films.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite journal |title=Jim Henson |work=Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica Inc. |year=2012 |access-date=September 24, 2012 |url=https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/262164/Jim-Henson |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015203441/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/262164/Jim-Henson |archive-date=October 15, 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://zenbullets.com/blog/?p=110|title=Jim Henson's Experimental Period|publisher=zenbullets.com|access-date=January 7, 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090422103342/http://zenbullets.com/blog/?p=110|archive-date=April 22, 2009}}</ref> His nine-minute experimental film ''[[Time Piece]]'' was nominated for an [[Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film]] in 1965. He produced ''[[The Cube (film)|The Cube]]'' in 1969. Around this time, he wrote the first drafts of a live-action movie script with Jerry Juhl which became ''[[Tale of Sand]]''. The script remained in the Henson Company archives until it was adapted in the 2012 graphic novel ''Jim Henson's Tale of Sand''.<ref>{{cite press release |url=https://www.henson.com/archaia-and-the-jim-henson-company-announce-new-original-graphic-novel-written-by-jim-henson-and-jerry-juhl/ |title=Archaia and the Jim Henson Company Announce new, original graphic novel written by Jim Henson and Jerry Juhl |agency=Jim Henson Company |date=August 4, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230330011842/https://www.henson.com/archaia-and-the-jim-henson-company-announce-new-original-graphic-novel-written-by-jim-henson-and-jerry-juhl/ |archive-date=March 30, 2023 |access-date=November 27, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref>
[[File:Jim Henson - McGarry's Sausages featuring Kermit and Mack (1964).webm|thumb|left|3 commercials for McGarry's Sausages featuring Kermit the Frog and Mack, following the typical snappy, wordplay-based violent format of a Wilkins & Wontkins commercial]]
During this time, Henson continued to work with various companies who sought out his Muppets for advertising purposes. Among his clients were [[Thomas E. Wilson|Wilson Meats]], [[RC Cola|Royal Crown Cola]], Claussen's Bread, [[La Choy]], and [[Frito-Lay]], which featured an early version of his character Cookie Monster to promote their [[Munchos]] line of potato snacks. Like the Wilkins Coffee ads of the late 1950s and early 1960s, the formula stayed fairly similar. For instance, one of the Claussen's commercials featured Kermit the Frog dangling from a window while a character named Mack asks him if he brought a loaf of the company's bread; when Kermit says he did not, Mack closes the window on Kermit's fingers and causes him to fall, suggesting he "drop down" to the grocery store to buy a loaf.

===''Sesame Street'': 1969===
{{main|Sesame Street}}

In 1969, television producer [[Joan Ganz Cooney]] and her staff at the [[Sesame Workshop|Children's Television Workshop]]<!--Do not change it to Sesame Workshop; name wasn't changed until 2000, so that would be historically inaccurate for 1969--> were impressed by the quality and creativity of the Henson-led team, so they asked Henson and staff to work full-time on ''Sesame Street'', a children's program for public television that premiered on [[National Educational Television]] on November 10, 1969. Part of the show was set aside for a series of funny, colorful puppet characters living on Sesame Street, including [[Grover]], [[Cookie Monster]], Bert and Ernie, [[Oscar the Grouch]], and [[Big Bird]]. Henson performed the characters of Ernie, game-show host [[Guy Smiley]], and Kermit, who appeared as a roving television news reporter.

Henson's Muppets initially appeared separately from the realistic segments on the Street, but the show was revamped to integrate the two segments, placing much greater emphasis on Henson's work. Cooney frequently praised Henson's work, and PBS called him "the spark that ignited our fledgling broadcast service."<ref name="nyobit"/> The success of ''Sesame Street'' also allowed him to stop producing commercials, and he said that "it was a pleasure to get out of that world".<ref name="central"/>

Henson was also involved in producing various shows and animation inserts during the first two seasons. He produced a series of counting films for the numbers 1 through 10 which always ended with a baker (voiced by Henson) falling down the stairs while carrying the featured number of desserts. He also worked on a variety of inserts for the numbers 2 through 12, including the films "Dollhouse"; "Number Three Ball Film"; the stop-motions "King of Eight" and "Queen of Six"; the cut-out animation "Eleven Cheer"; and the computer animation "Nobody Counts To 10." He also directed the original "[[C Is For Cookie]]" and ''Tales from Muppetland'', a short series of TV movie specials that were comic retellings of classic fairy tales aimed at a young audience and hosted by Kermit the Frog. The series included ''[[Hey, Cinderella!]]'', ''[[The Frog Prince (1971 film)|The Frog Prince]]'', and ''[[The Muppet Musicians of Bremen]]''.{{sfn|Jones|2013|pp=152, 176–177, 186}}

===Expansion of audience: 1970–1978===
[[File:Jim Henson (cropped).tif|thumb|upright|Henson in 1971]]
Henson, Oz, and his team were concerned that the company was becoming typecast solely as purveyors of children's entertainment, so they targeted an adult audience with a series of sketches on the first season of the late-night live television variety show ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''. Eleven ''[[The Land of Gorch|Land of Gorch]]'' sketches were aired between October 1975 and January 1976 on [[NBC]], with four additional appearances in March, April, May, and September 1976. Henson liked [[Lorne Michaels]]' work and wanted to be a part of it, but he ultimately concluded that "what we were trying to do and what his writers could write for it never gelled".<ref name="central"/> The ''SNL'' writers were not comfortable writing for the characters, and they frequently disparaged Henson's creations. [[Michael O'Donoghue]] quipped, "I won't write for felt."<ref>{{cite book |last=Shales |first=Tom |author-link=Tom Shales |author2=Miller, James Andrew |title =Live From New York: An Uncensored History of Saturday Night Live |publisher=[[Little, Brown and Company]] |year=2002 |location=[[Boston]] |pages=[https://archive.org/details/livefromnewyorku00shal/page/79 79–80] |isbn=0-316-78146-0 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/livefromnewyorku00shal/page/79}}</ref>

Henson began developing a Broadway show and a weekly television series both featuring the Muppets.<ref name="central"/> The American networks rejected the series in 1976, believing that Muppets would appeal only to a child audience. Then, Henson pitched the show to British impresario [[Lew Grade]] to finance the show. The show would be shot in the United Kingdom and syndicated worldwide.<ref name="behindfrog">{{cite magazine |date=December 25, 1978 |title=The Man Behind the Frog |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,948401,00.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181010141141/http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,948401,00.html |archive-date=October 10, 2018 |access-date=May 1, 2007 |magazine=Time}}</ref> That same year, he scrapped plans for his Broadway show and moved his creative team to England, where ''[[The Muppet Show]]'' began taping. The show featured Kermit as host, with a variety of prominent characters, notably [[Miss Piggy]], [[Gonzo (Muppet)|Gonzo the Great]], and [[Fozzie Bear]], in addition to its large cast of supporting characters such as the Muppet musicians [[Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem]] with their chaotic drummer [[Animal (Muppet)|Animal]]. Henson's teammates sometimes compared his role to that of Kermit: a shy, gentle boss with "a whim of steel"<ref name="lifemag"/> who ran things like "an explosion in a mattress factory."<ref name="marvelous">{{cite magazine |last=Skow |first=John |url=https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,948400,00.html |title=Those Marvelous Muppets |magazine=Time |date=December 25, 1978 |access-date=May 1, 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071016182527/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C948400%2C00.html |archive-date=October 16, 2007 }}</ref> [[Caroll Spinney]], who performed as Big Bird, remembered that Henson would never say he did not like something. "He would just go 'Hmm.'&nbsp;... And if he liked it, he would say, 'Lovely!'"<ref name="People Weekly Article"/> Henson recognized Kermit as an alter ego, though he thought that Kermit was bolder than he; he once said of the character: "He can say things I hold back."<ref name="newsweek">{{cite magazine |author1=Seligmann, J. |author2=Leonard, E. |title=Jim Henson: 1936–1990 |magazine=Newsweek |date=May 28, 1990}}</ref>
[[File:Jim Henson, creator, The Muppets -full.jpg|thumb|Henson with [[Miss Piggy]] and [[Fozzie Bear]] in 1979]]

===Transition to the big screen: 1979–1986===
The Muppets appeared in their first theatrical feature film ''[[The Muppet Movie]]'' in 1979. It was both a critical and financial success;{{sfn|Finch|1993|p=128}} it made $65.2&nbsp;million domestically and was the 61st highest-grossing film at the time.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=muppetmovie.htm |title=The Muppet Movie |website=Box Office Mojo |access-date=November 5, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017104004/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=muppetmovie.htm |archive-date=October 17, 2013 }}</ref> Henson's idol [[Edgar Bergen]] died at age 75 during production of the film, and Henson dedicated it to his memory. Henson as Kermit sang "[[Rainbow Connection]]", and it hit number 25 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] and was nominated for an [[Academy Awards|Academy Award]] for [[Academy Award for Best Original Song|Best Original Song]]. The Henson-directed ''[[The Great Muppet Caper]]'' (1981) followed, and Henson decided to end the ''Muppet Show'' to concentrate on making films,<ref name="sippi"/> though the Muppet characters continued to appear in TV movies and specials.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Holland |first=Stephen |date=2024-10-09 |title=The 15 Best Celebrity Guests On The Muppet Show |url=https://screenrant.com/the-15-best-celebrity-guests-on-the-muppet-show/ |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=ScreenRant |language=en}}</ref>

Henson also aided others in their work. During development on ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'' (1980), [[George Lucas]] asked him to aid make-up artist [[Stuart Freeborn]] in the creation and articulation of [[Yoda]]. Lucas had also wanted Henson to puppeteer the character, but Henson instead suggested Frank Oz for the role;{{sfn|Jones|2013|pp=307–308}} Oz performed the role and continued in the subsequent ''[[Star Wars]]'' films. Lucas lobbied unsuccessfully to have Oz nominated for an Academy Award for [[Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor|Best Supporting Actor]].{{sfn|Finch|1993|p=176}}

In 1982, Henson founded the [[Jim Henson Foundation]] to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the United States. Around that time, he began creating darker and more realistic fantasy films that did not feature the Muppets and displayed "a growing, brooding interest in mortality."<ref name="lifemag"/> He co-directed ''[[The Dark Crystal]]'' (1982) with Oz, "trying to go toward a sense of realism—toward a reality of creatures that are actually alive".<ref name="central"/> To provide a visual style distinct from the Muppets, the puppets in ''The Dark Crystal'' were based on conceptual artwork by [[Brian Froud]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=jbindeck2015 |date=2019-08-28 |title=The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance's designer on 'a purer form of puppetry' |url=https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistances-designer-on-a-purer-form-of-puppetry/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=Den of Geek |language=en-US |archive-date=August 16, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200816215517/https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistances-designer-on-a-purer-form-of-puppetry/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and it was a critical success, winning several industry awards including the [[Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film]] and the Grand Prize Winner at the [[Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival]].<ref>{{Citation |title=The Dark Crystal (1982) |work=IMDb |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083791/awards/ |pages=awards |language=en |access-date=2022-09-05 |archive-date=September 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905142424/https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083791/awards/ |url-status=live }}</ref> The film was less financially successful in theaters, but later claimed an enormous following and revenue when it was introduced on VHS for home entertainment.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Idato |first=Michael |date=2019-08-21 |title=The Dark Crystal gets rebirth for streaming era |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/the-dark-crystal-gets-rebirth-for-streaming-era-20190819-p52ifu.html |access-date=2022-09-05 |website=The Sydney Morning Herald |language=en |archive-date=September 5, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905142424/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/the-dark-crystal-gets-rebirth-for-streaming-era-20190819-p52ifu.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Also in 1982, Henson co-founded [[HIT Entertainment|Henson International Television]] with [[Peter Orton]] and [[Sophie Turner Laing]] as his partners. The company was a distribution company for children's, teens' and family television.<ref name="ind">{{cite news|title=Peter Orton: Media entrepreneur who made a global success of Bob the Builder|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-orton-media-entrepreneur-who-made-a-global-success-of-bob-the-builder-764554.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220608/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/peter-orton-media-entrepreneur-who-made-a-global-success-of-bob-the-builder-764554.html |archive-date=June 8, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|access-date=December 29, 2017|work=The Independent|date=December 12, 2007}}</ref>

[[File:Lucas - Henson - 1986.jpg|thumb|right|Henson and producer [[George Lucas]] working on ''[[Labyrinth (1986 film)|Labyrinth]]'' in 1986]]
Henson worked with Oz again on ''[[The Muppets Take Manhattan]]'' (1984), this time with Oz as sole director.{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=354}} The film grossed $25.5 million domestically<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Muppets Take Manhattan |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3244656129/weekend/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224220817/https://www.boxofficemojo.com/release/rl3244656129/weekend/ |archive-date=2021-02-24 |access-date=2024-05-07 |website=Box Office Mojo}}</ref> of a budget of only around $8 million,{{Sfn|Jones|2013|p=371}} and ranked as one of the top 40 films of 1984.<ref>{{cite web |title=1984 Yearly Box Office Results |url=https://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1984&p=.htm |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131103115555/http://www.boxofficemojo.com/yearly/chart/?yr=1984&p=.htm |archive-date=November 3, 2013 |access-date=November 5, 2013 |website=[[Box Office Mojo]]}}</ref>

''[[Labyrinth (1986 film)|Labyrinth]]'' (1986) was a fantasy that Henson directed by himself, but—despite some positive reviews; ''The New York Times'' called it "a fabulous film"—it was a commercial disappointment.<ref>{{cite news |last=Darnton |first=Nina |title=Jim Henson's 'Labyrinth' |work=The New York Times |page=C14 |date=June 27, 1986 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/27/movies/screen-jum-henson-s-labyrinth.html |access-date=November 5, 2013 |archive-date=August 9, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200809064302/https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/27/movies/screen-jum-henson-s-labyrinth.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This demoralized Henson; his son [[Brian Henson]] described it as "the closest I've seen him to turning in on himself and getting quite depressed."<ref name="lifemag" /> The film later became a cult classic.<ref>{{cite web |last=Sparrow |first=A.E. |date=September 11, 2006 |title=Return to Labyrinth Vol. 1 Review |work=[[IGN]] |url=https://www.ign.com/articles/2006/09/11/return-to-labyrinth-vol-1-review |access-date=November 5, 2013 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140221160255/http://www.ign.com/articles/2006/09/11/return-to-labyrinth-vol-1-review |archive-date=February 21, 2014}}</ref>

In 1984 Henson traveled to Moscow, where he made a film about [[Sergey Obraztsov|Sergei Obraztsov]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=8/19-24/1984 – 'In Dresden with Cheryl for UNIMA Puppet Festival.' {{!}} Jim Henson's Red Book |url=https://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2013/08/819-241984-2/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=www.henson.com |archive-date=April 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414122301/https://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2013/08/819-241984-2/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Henson also donated four dolls to the puppeteer to replenish the Moscow Museum of Obraztsov Puppets: Fraggle, Skeksi, Bugard, and Robin the Frog. Of the show's guests, the Henson Archivist points out that Jim Henson placed a special importance on meeting Obraztsov: "As a teenager learning to make puppets, Jim checked out some books from the public library for instruction – one was Obraztsov’s 1950 book, ''My Profession''"<ref>{{Cite web |title=5/14-17/1984 – 'In Holland for Triangel – Henk and Ans Boerwinkel for J.H. Presents – John H. comes along.' {{!}} Jim Henson's Red Book |url=https://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2014/05/514-171984/ |access-date=2023-04-14 |website=www.henson.com |archive-date=April 14, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230414121533/https://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2014/05/514-171984/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-21 |title=Wanted: The Muppets |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2012/01/25/wanted-the-muppets-a12156 |access-date=2023-04-14 |archive-date=September 21, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921064433/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2012/01/25/wanted-the-muppets-a12156 |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Smale |first=Alison |date=November 23, 1984 |title=Henson Takes Kermit to Meet Russian Puppetmaster |work=[[The Associated Press]]}}</ref>

===Last years: 1987–1990===
[[File:Jim_Henson_(1989)_headshot.jpg|thumb|upright|Henson at the 1989 [[Emmy Awards]]]]
Henson continued creating children's television, such as ''[[Fraggle Rock]]'' and the animated ''[[Muppet Babies (1984 TV series)|Muppet Babies]]''. He also continued to address darker, more mature themes with the folklore and mythology-oriented show ''[[The StoryTeller (TV series)|The StoryTeller]]'' (1988), which won an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program. The next year, he returned to television with ''[[The Jim Henson Hour]]'', which mixed lighthearted Muppet fare with more risqué material. It was critically well-received and won him another [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Variety Series|Emmy for Outstanding Directing in a Variety or Music Program]], but it was canceled after 12 episodes due to poor ratings. Henson blamed its failure on NBC's constant rescheduling.<ref name="amfilm">{{cite magazine |title=Dialogue on Film: Jim Henson |magazine=[[American Film (magazine)|American Film]] |pages=18–21 |date=November 1989}}</ref>

In late 1989, Henson entered into negotiations to sell his company and characters (excluding those from ''Sesame Street'') to [[The Walt Disney Company]] for almost $150&nbsp;million, hoping that he would "be able to spend a lot more of my time on the creative side of things" with Disney handling business matters.<ref name="amfilm"/> By 1990, he had completed production on the television special ''[[The Muppets at Walt Disney World]]'' and the [[Disney's Hollywood Studios|Disney-MGM Studios]] attraction ''[[Muppet*Vision 3D]]'' and he was developing film ideas and a television series entitled ''Muppet High''.<ref name="People Weekly Article"/>