Frank Oz

Frank Oz
Oz at the 38th Annual Saturn Awards 2012
Born	Frank Richard Oznowicz May 25, 1944 Hereford, England
Nationality	American
Education	Oakland Technical High School
Alma mater	Oakland City College
Occupation	Puppeteer, filmmaker, actor
Years active	1960–present
Spouse(s)	Robin Garsen (m. 1979; div. 1994)[1] Victoria Labalme (m. 2011)[2]
Children	3[3]

Frank Oz (born Frank Richard Oznowicz;^[2] born May 25, 1944) is an English-born American puppeteer, filmmaker, and actor. His career began as a puppeteer, where he performed the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, and Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover in Sesame Street.^[4] He is also known for being the puppeteer and voice of Yoda in the Star Wars films.

His work as a director includes Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988), What About Bob? (1991), In & Out (1997), Bowfinger (1999), The Score (2001) and Death at a Funeral (2007).

Early life

Oz was born in Hereford, England, the son of Frances (née Ghevaert) (1910-1989) and Isidore Oznowicz (1916-1998), both of whom were puppeteers.^[5][6] His father was also a window trimmer.^[1][7] His parents moved to England after fighting the Nazis with the Dutch Brigades. Oz's Dutch/Polish father was Jewish and his Flemish mother was a lapsed Roman Catholic.^{[2][8][9][10]} Oz left England when he was six months old and lived in Belgium until he was five.^[11][12] Oz and his family moved to Montana in 1951.^[7] They eventually settled in Oakland, California.^[1] Oz attended Oakland Technical High School and Oakland City College. He worked as an apprentice puppeteer at Children's Fairyland as a teenager^[13] with the Vagabond Puppets, a production of the Oakland Recreation Department, where Lettie Connell^[14] was his mentor.

Career

Puppeteering

Oz is known for his work as a puppeteer, performing with Jim Henson's Muppets. His characters have included Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle on The Muppet Show, and Grover, Cookie Monster and Bert on Sesame Street.

In addition to performing a variety of characters, Oz has been one of the primary collaborators responsible for the development of the Muppets over the last 30 years. Oz has performed as a Muppet performer in over 75 productions including Labyrinth, video releases, and television specials, as well as countless other public appearances, episodes of Sesame Street, and other Jim Henson series. His puppetry work spans from 1963 to the present, although he retired completely from the Muppets in 2000.^[15] His characters were taken primarily over by Eric Jacobson (with David Rudman as Cookie Monster) in 2001.^[16]

Oz is also known as the performer of Jedi Master Yoda from George Lucas' Star Wars series. Jim Henson had originally been contacted by Lucas about possibly performing Yoda. Henson was pre-occupied and suggested Oz to be assigned as chief puppeteer and as creative consultant. While Stuart Freeborn designed and fabricated the Yoda puppet, Oz performed the voice and puppet for Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. Oz also provided the voice of the computer-generated imagery (CGI) Yoda in Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. The conversion to CGI was met with some criticism among fans but Oz himself said that was "exactly what [Lucas] should have done."^[17] Oz had a great deal of creative input on the character and was himself responsible for creating the character's trademark syntax.^[18] Oz reprised his vocal role as Yoda in Disney's Star Tours–The Adventures Continue attraction at Disneyland and Disney's Hollywood Studios^[19] and in the Star Wars Rebels episodes "Path of the Jedi" and "Shroud of Darkness."

Directing

Inspiration as a film-maker came to Oz upon a viewing of the film Touch of Evil, the director tells Robert K. Elder in an interview for The Film That Changed My Life.^[20]

I think it opened up my view of film—that there's so much more that could be done. Actually, by breaking so many rules, he allowed other people to say, "Hey, I can maybe think of some stuff, too!" He just opened up the possibilities more for me. That's what he did.^[21]

Oz in 1984

Oz began his behind-the-camera work when he co-directed the fantasy film The Dark Crystal with long-time collaborator Jim Henson. The film featured the most advanced puppets ever created for a movie. Oz further employed those skills in directing 1984's The Muppets Take Manhattan, as well as sharing a screenwriting credit.

In 1986 he directed his first movie that did not involve Henson, Little Shop Of Horrors. The musical film starred Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene, as well as Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, John Candy, Christopher Guest, Jim Belushi and a 15-foot-tall talking plant (voiced by Levi Stubbs) which at times required up to 40 puppeteers to operate. The film allowed Oz to show his ability to work with live actors and led to opportunities to direct films that did not include puppetry.

Usually directing comedies, Oz went on to direct Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in 1988, starring Steve Martin and Michael Caine, What About Bob? in 1991, starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss, and Housesitter in 1992, starring Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn (all of which were scored by Miles Goodman). Later films include The Indian in the Cupboard (1995), In & Out (1997), Bowfinger (1999), The Score (2001), the 2004 remake of The Stepford Wives, and the original Death at a Funeral (2007).

Oz has frequently experienced on-set tension while directing his films, notably during the productions of What About Bob?, In & Out, The Score and The Stepford Wives.^{[11][22][23][24]} Oz was also considered to direct other films such as Mermaids (1990) and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002).^[11][12]

Acting

As an actor, Oz appeared in a bit part as Prison Storeroom Keeper in The Blues Brothers (1980), directed by John Landis. He also appeared in later Landis movies An American Werewolf in London, Spies Like Us, Trading Places and Innocent Blood. In 1998, Oz portrayed a warden in Blues Brothers 2000. In 2001 he had a minor part in the Pixar film Monsters, Inc. as Randall's scare assistant, Fungus.^[25] In 2005, he had a minor part in the Columbia film Zathura as the voice of the Robot.

Other cameos have included playing a surgeon in scenes cut from the theatrical release of Superman III,^[26] The Muppet Movie, The Great Muppet Caper, The Muppets Take Manhattan and several other Jim Henson-related films that did not involve just his puppeteering.

Even if he does not appear in a Landis movie, his name is often spoken in the background. During airport scenes in Into the Night and Coming to America, there are announcements on the PA system for 'Mr. Frank Oznowicz'.

Personal life

Oz was previously married to Robin Garsen.^[1] He is now married to Victoria Labalme.^[3] Oz is the father of three sons.^[3] He maintained a residence in England for nine years^[12] and currently resides in Manhattan (as of 2012).^[3]

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Director	Actor	Role	Notes
1979	The Muppet Movie	No	Yes	Fozzie Bear Miss Piggy Sam Eagle Animal Marvin Suggs	Puppeteer/Voice
1980	The Blues Brothers	No	Yes	Corrections officer
	The Empire Strikes Back	No	Yes	Yoda	Puppeteer/Voice
1981	The Great Muppet Caper	No	Yes	Fozzie Bear Miss Piggy Sam Eagle Animal Additional characters	Puppeteer/Voice Also producer
	An American Werewolf in London	No	Yes	Mr. Collins
1982	The Dark Crystal	Yes	Yes	Aughra	Co-directed with Jim Henson
1983	Superman III	No	Yes	Surgeon	Deleted scene
	Return of the Jedi	No	Yes	Yoda	Puppeteer/Voice
	Trading Places	No	Yes	Booking cop
1984	The Muppets Take Manhattan	Yes	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Sam Eagle Animal Bert Cookie Monster Ocean Breeze Board member Additional characters	Also screenwriter
1985	Spies Like Us	No	Yes	Test monitor
	Sesame Street Presents Follow That Bird	No	Yes	Bert Grover Cookie Monster	Puppeteer/Voice
1986	Little Shop of Horrors	Yes	No
	Labyrinth	No	Yes	The Wiseman
1988	Dirty Rotten Scoundrels	Yes	No
1991	Muppet*Vision 3D	No	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Sam Eagle Additional characters	Puppeteer/Voice Theme park attraction
	What About Bob?	Yes	No
1992	Housesitter	Yes	No
	Innocent Blood	No	Yes	Pathologist
	The Muppet Christmas Carol	No	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Sam Eagle Animal Additional characters	Puppeteer/Voice Also executive producer
1995	The Indian in the Cupboard	Yes	No
1996	Muppet Treasure Island	No	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Sam Eagle Animal Additional characters	Puppeteer/Voice Also executive producer
1997	In & Out	Yes	No
1998	Blues Brothers 2000	No	Yes	Warden
1999	Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace	No	Yes	Yoda	Puppeteer/Voice
	Muppets from Space	No	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Sam Eagle Animal Additional characters	Voice
	Bowfinger	Yes	No
	The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland	No	Yes	Bert Grover Cookie Monster	Voice
2001	The Score	Yes	No
	Monsters, Inc.	No	Yes	Jeff Fungus	Voice
2002	Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones	No	Yes	Yoda
2004	The Stepford Wives	Yes	No
2005	Zathura	No	Yes	Robot	Voice
	Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith	No	Yes	Yoda
2007	Death at a Funeral	Yes	No
2011	Star Tours–The Adventures Continue	No	Yes	Yoda	Voice Theme park attraction
	Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey	No	Yes	Himself	Documentary
2014	I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story	No	Yes	Himself	Documentary
2015	Inside Out	No	Yes	Subconscious Guard Dave[27]	Voice
	Star Wars: The Force Awakens	No	Yes	Yoda[28]	Voice (archive recording)

Television

Year	Title	Director	Actor	Role	Notes
1969–present	Sesame Street	No	Yes	Bert Grover Cookie Monster Lefty the Salesman Harvey Kneeslapper Additional characters	Puppeteer/Voice; semi-retired from the show in 2001, now performs his characters a few episodes per year
1976–1981	The Muppet Show	No	Yes	Fozzie Bear Miss Piggy Sam Eagle Animal Marvin Suggs George the Janitor Additional characters	Puppeteer/Voice
1977	Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas	No	Yes	Alice Otter (puppetry) Chuck Stoat (puppetry and voice)	Puppeteer/Voice Television film
1989–1990	The Jim Henson Hour	No	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear	Puppeteer/Voice
1990	The Muppets at Walt Disney World	No	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Animal	Puppeteer/Voice
1994	Jim Henson's Animal Show	No	Yes	Sam Eagle	Puppeteer/Voice Episode: "Bald Eagle"
1996–1998	Muppets Tonight	No	Yes	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Sam Eagle Animal Additional characters	Puppeteer/Voice
1999	CinderElmo	No	Yes	Bert Grover Cookie Monster	Voice Television film
2002	The Funkhousers	Yes	No		Television film
2011	Leverage	Yes	No		Episode: "The Carnival Job"
2015–2016	Star Wars Rebels	No	Yes	Yoda	Voice 2 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Muppet Treasure Island	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear	Voice
	The Muppet CDROM: Muppets Inside	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Animal
2000	Muppet Monster Adventure	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear
	Muppet RaceMania	Miss Piggy Fozzie Bear Sam Eagle Animal

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Program	Result[29]
1974	News & Documentary Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming Shared with Fran Brill, Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson & Caroll Spinney	Sesame Street	Won
1976	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Children's Programming Shared with Gerri Brioso, Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson & Caroll Spinney		Won
1977	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series Shared with Jack Burns, Dave Goelz, Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, David Lazer, John Lovelady, Jerry Nelson, Eren Ozker & Caroll Spinney	The Muppet Show	Nominated
1978		Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series Shared with Jim Henson, David Lazer, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt & Dave Goelz		Won
1979	Daytime Emmy Award	Outstanding Individual Achievement in Children's Programming Shared with Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Jerry Nelson & Caroll Spinney		Won
	Primetime Emmy Award	Outstanding Comedy-Variety or Music Series Shared with Jim Henson, David Lazer, Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt & Dave Goelz		Nominated

References

1. Peterson, Karen; Hauptfuhrer, Fred (9 June 1980). "Yoda Mania". People. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
2. "A Conversation with Frank Oz at the Museum of the Moving Image". Jimhensonlegacy.org. 2011-10-25. Retrieved 2012-03-23.
3. Paquette, Danielle (26 July 2012). "Frank Oz speaks — but not as Yoda or Miss Piggy". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
4. "Frank Oz". AllMusic.
5. "Frank Oz Biography – Yahoo! Movies". Movies.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
6. http://www.zwinstreek.eu/zs/images/publicaties/hle/hle198002p021-023.pdf
7. Plume, Kenneth (18 February 2000). "INTERVIEW WITH FRANK OZ (PART 1 OF 4)". IGN. Retrieved 8 December 2015.
8. "Oz L.A. Times Score article- Edward Norton Information Page". Workprint.powweb.com. 2001-07-09. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
9. "JewishJournal.com". JewishJournal.com. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
10. Arnold, William (2007-06-08). "''seattlepi.com'' "Director Frank Oz takes a new tack with low-budget dark comedy, 'Death at a Funeral'" William Arnold, 6/8/07". Seattlepi.com. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
11. Clark, John (12 August 2007). "Frank Oz and that little voice inside". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
12. Rabin, Nathan (16 August 2007). "Frank Oz". The A.V. Club. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
13. "Children's Fairyland". The New York Times. February 5, 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2013.
14. "International Puppet Museum: Lettie Connell Schuburt". Puppetrymuseum.org. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
15. Setoodeh, Ramin (11 March 2014). "How Kermit and the Muppets Got Their Mojo Back". Variety. Retrieved 12 March 2014.
16. Lloyd, Robert (May 16, 2015). "If Harry Shearer leaves 'The Simpsons,' what will happen? Just ask Bugs Bunny". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved May 20, 2015.
17. Exclusive: A Chat with Frank Oz, comingsoon.net
18. Geoffrey K. Pullum (May 18, 2005). "Yoda's syntax the Tribune analyzes; supply more details I will!". Language Log. Retrieved 2010-09-30.
19. "Countdown to an All-New Star Tours | Fans Insider | Disney". Disney.go.com. 2011-05-10. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
20. Rabin, Nathan. "The Film That Changed My Life: 30 Directors on Their Epiphanies in the Dark (9781556528255): Robert K. Elder: Books". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-09-26.
21. Oz, Frank. Interview by Robert K. Elder. The Film That Changed My Life. By Robert K. Elder. Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 2011. N. p. 272. Print.
22. "Capone With Frank Oz About DEATH AT A FUNERAL, What Went Wrong On STEPFORD, And (Of Course) Yoda!!". Ain't It Cool News. 7 August 2007. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
23. Plume, Kenneth (10 February 2000). "INTERVIEW WITH FRANK OZ". IGN. Retrieved 27 April 2015.
24. "Nicole Kidman-Frank Oz's Tense Remake". contactmusic.com. 2003-02-10.
25. Paquette, Danielle (12 July 2012). "Frank Oz speaks — but not as Yoda or Miss Piggy". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 4 February 2013.
26. "Frank Oz". supermancinema.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-12-13.
27. "Pixar's 'Inside Out' Cast Includes Some Awesome Voice Cameos (Spoilers)". Stitch Kingdom. May 20, 2015. Retrieved May 27, 2015.
28. "J.J. Abrams reveals Obi-Wan and Yoda are secretly in 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' - EW.com".
29. "Frank Oz – Awards". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-06-14.

External links

• Frank Oz at the Internet Movie Database
• Frank Oz at the TCM Movie Database