carroll spinney

Caroll Spinney, the man who performs both Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street, will receive a lifetime achievement award at the Daytime Emmys in April. Spinney was with the series from the very beginning, appearing as Big Bird in the first scene of the first episode. Jim Henson and Sesame Street writer Jon Stone came up with the idea for Oscar after encountering a grumpy waiter at a restaurant in Manhattan called Oscar's Tavern. Spinney based Oscar's voice on a gravel-voiced cab driver who once picked him up to take him back to the Sesame Street set.