The puppeteer responsible for bringing Sesame Street characters Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch to life for nearly 50 years is retiring.
Thursday will be 84-year-old Caroll Spinney’s last day on the show, which he has been a part of since it began in 1969. He hasn’t manned Big Bird’s trademark yellow feathers or Oscar’s green figure since 2015, but stayed on as each character’s voice, The New York Times reported.
Spinney attributed his recent issues with balance and the physical requirements of handling the puppets as his reasons for calling it quits.
“I always thought,” Spinney told The Times, “how fortunate for me that I got to play the two best Muppets?”
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