Caroll Edwin Spinney, sometimes credited as Carroll Spinney or Ed Spinney (born December 26, 1933) is a puppeteer most famous for playing Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on the children's television show Sesame Street. He graduated from Acton High School in Massachusetts. He has described his experience as Big Bird as "a lot like growing up to be Mickey Mouse... only taller!"
Spinney was born in Waltham, Massachusetts. When he was in the US Air Force, he 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."
In 1955, Spinney headed to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he created the show Rascal Rabbit. He returned to Boston, joining The Judy and Goggle Show in 1958 as a puppeteer. At this series, he was Goggle, to Judy Valentine's Judy.
Throughout the 1960s, he performed on the Boston broadcast of Bozo's Big Top, where he played Mr. Lion, who created cartoons from the names of children participating in the show. Through that decade, he was also a commercial artist and animator.
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. Spinney's Picklepuss and Pop puppets were characters in the 1988 family video Wow, You're a Cartoonist!, starring Tatyana Ali.
Spinney currently resides in Woodstock, Connecticut, with his wife, Debra. The couple has three children.
Under the name Ed Spinney, Caroll Spinney animated a series of black and white cartoons called "Crazy Crayon".
He made an appearance as Big Bird on an episode of "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood." Before the show was taped, Fred Rogers explained his idea of having Spinney remove his Big Bird outfit on the show and discuss the inner workings of it. Spinney objected to this idea, saying that it was important to preserve the sense of wonder and magic that children have about Big Bird. Rogers agreed that Spinney was right, and Big Bird did appear on the show in a "Neighborhood of Make-Believe" segment.
