Galactic Biography is a weekly article focusing on one of the many people who have contributed to the world of Star Wars. This week features the American Puppeteer Frank Oz.

Frank who?

Frank Oz was born in Hereford, England on May 25, 1944 and moved to America at age five. He is best known for his work in TV show and movie puppetry. He joined up with Muppets, Inc in 1963, beginning his early career operating puppets in commercials, Sesame Street, and The Muppet Show. He would go on to become a close partner and friend of the Muppet pioneer Jim Henson.

But how does he relate to Star Wars?

Due to his successful work in the puppet industry, George Lucas contacted him to be the chief puppeteer for the character Yoda in the movie The Empire Strikes Back. With the help of other puppeteers, he was able to craft and bring to life the Jedi Master, even coming up with Yoda’s now trademark “backwards talk”. He played a major role in manipulating the puppet and making it as realistic as possible, an extraordinary achievement of artificial acting (a made-up term). Frank Oz supplied Yoda’s voice in the Star Wars movies as well. He would continue to operate the puppet in episodes 6 and 1 before Yoda made the switch to CGI animation in order to star in acrobatic fight scenes.

What else did he do?

After Star Wars, Frank continued his work for the Muppets (performing characters such as Fozzie the Bear and Miss Piggy) and Sesame Street (his characters include the Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover). He also directed movies (mainly comedies), such as The Indian in the Cupboard, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, and Death at a Funeral.

How about some trivia?

-His full name is Richard Frank Oznowicz. During an appearance on The Jimmy Dean Show early in his career, Jimmy Dean introduced him as Frank Oz, mumbling the rest of his last name

-In the Pixar movie Monsters, Inc, he voiced Fungus, the assistant for the main antagonist Randall

Written by :

pattonrommel