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| Big Bird | |
|---|---|
| Sesame Street character | |
 Big Bird (left) during filming of a 1989 episode of Sesame Street alongside then-First Lady of the United States Barbara Bush | |
| First appearance | Episode 0001 (November 10, 1969)[1] |
| Created by |
|
| Performed by | Caroll Spinney (1969–2018) Daniel Seagren (stand-in, 1969; 1970)[2] Matt Vogel (1996–present) |
| Birthday | March 20[3] |
| In-universe information | |
| Nicknames | Grandsonny, by Granny Bird Bird, by his best friend, Snuffy Turkey, feather face, and others, by Oscar the Grouch |
| Species | Muppet bird |
| Gender | Male[4] |
| Family | Granny Bird (grandmother) Eight foreign cousins[5] |
Big Bird is a Muppet character designed by Jim Henson and built by Kermit Love for the children's television show Sesame Street. An eight-foot-two-inch-tall (249 cm) bright yellow anthropomorphic bird,[6][7] he can roller skate, ice skate, dance, swim, sing, write poetry, draw, and ride a unicycle. Despite this wide array of talents, he is prone to frequent misunderstandings, on one occasion even singing the alphabet as a single word (pronouncing it as /æbkədɛfɡiːdʒɛkəlmɪnɒpkwərˈstuːvwɪksɪz/ in the song "ABC-DEF-GHI"). He would refer to grocer Mr. Hooper as "Mr. Looper", among other mispronunciations. He lives in a large nest behind the 123 Sesame Street brownstone and right next to Oscar the Grouch's trash can. In Season 46, the nest sits within a small, furnished maple tree, and is no longer hidden by used construction doors. He has a teddy bear named Radar.
Caroll Spinney performed Big Bird from 1969 to 2018. Matt Vogel began as an understudy in 1996[8] before becoming the character's full-time performer in 2018.
In 2000, Big Bird was named a Living Legend by the United States Library of Congress.[9]
- ^ Footage of this episode, including Big Bird's debut, was seen two days earlier on This Way to Sesame Street
- ^ "TV's Original SPIDER-MAN Breaks His Silence". July 11, 2019.
- ^ @BigBird (March 20, 2017). "Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes! I can't wait for my party on Wednesday at @CB_TimesSquare!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
- ^ "Muppet Bio: Big Bird". July 3, 2008. Archived from the original on July 3, 2008.
- ^ Big Bird [@BigBird] (February 5, 2021). "I heard my friends on Twitter were asking about my cousins around the world! It's true, I have a lot of bird cousins in different countries. Here's a little bit about them" (Tweet). Retrieved February 6, 2021 – via Twitter.
- ^ Bradley, Bill (November 2, 2016). "Cookie Monster Finally Tells Us How To Get To 'Sesame Street'". Huffington Post.
- ^ Fisch, Shalom M.; Truglio, Rosemarie T. (2014). "G" Is for Growing: Thirty Years of Research on Children and Sesame Street. Routledge. pp. 39–40. ISBN 978-1-1356-6495-4.
- ^ "Matt Vogel is Big Bird". BBC Online. October 13, 2016. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
- ^ "Awards & Honors | About the Library | Library of Congress". Library of Congress.