Caroll Spinney, sometimes credited as Carroll Spinney and Ed Spinney (born December 26, 1933 in Waltham, Massachusetts, USA) is a puppeteer most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on the children's television show Sesame Street. He has described his experience as Big Bird as "a lot like growing up to be Mickey Mouse... only taller!"

When he was in the military, Caroll wrote and illustrated Harvey, a comic strip about military life. He also animated a series of black and white cartoons called Crazy Crayon. These were done under the pseudonym "Ed Spinney."

Spinney created a puppet of a cat named Picklepuss, long before he joined the inaugural cast of Sesame Street. This cat and his other friends joined Spinney in entertaining audiences of the 1960s.

As Oscar the Grouch he has written How to Be a Grouch, a Whitman Tell-A-Tale picture book.

See also: List of Sesame Street puppeteers

External links

• Official Caroll Spinney Site (http://www.carollspinney.com/)
• Carroll Spinney (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0818973/) at the Internet Movie Database
• Official Spinney-authorized Fan Page (http://carollspinney.netfirms.com)
• Caroll Spinney Trivia Quiz (http://www.muppetcentral.com/guides/trivia/spinney.shtml)