Tributes to Janet have been flowing in to the Puptcrit puppetry discussion list since her passing. Tears of Joy Artistic Director Nancy Alderich commented that “Janet can not be replaced. But we must carry on her legacy, and honor her memory.”

A statement from Janet’s daughter Emily was also posted to Puptcrit:

My wonderful and perfect mother, Janet Bradley, passed away early this morning. She was, as you know, a vibrant, electric, and beautiful woman. Her passing is a shock. The cause can best be described as a birth-defect of her aorta that none of us, including my mother, knew about.

She was an elegant queen with a green thumb who could turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse. And she truly loved and enjoyed her life. My mom was my very best friend, and a second mother to my children. I am so grateful to have had the time we did.

…I will announce the details of her wake in the days to come. She would want a celebration of her life, and she would most certainly want flowers. Lots and lots of flowers.

A celebration of Janet’s life is planned for May 16th at the Newmark Theater in Portland, Oregon. Some of Janet’s favorite artists will perform, followed by a wine and cheese reception. Donations and remembrances for Janet can be made to Tears of Joy Theatre via www.tojt.com or by phone at 1-503-248-0557.

Rest in peace Janet. I’m sure you will be much missed by many.

Rest in peace Kathy.

I never had the opportunity to meet Frank myself, but every puppeteer I have ever met who worked with him or studied under him universally sings his praises. The world has lost an important and visionary advocate  for puppetry. Rest in peace Frank.

08/06/10 Update – I’ve added a link to Frank’s complete obituary.

The world has lost another master of a historic, traditional form of puppetry.

Eugenios Spatháris – one of the world’s best-known shadow puppeteers – died yesterday at the age of 85. Eugenios was a second generation puppeteer who followed in his father Sotiris Spatháris footsteps working as a puppeteer in traditional Greek shadow theatre. He gave his first performance in 1942 and had been performing ever since. According to reports, he died from injuries sustained in a fall while en route to performance last week.

This is sad news for a variety of reasons, not the least of which is that traditional Greek shadow theatre is a dying art form. Shadow puppetry has a rich history in Greece; it first arrived there from Asia in the mid-15th century and for decades after Greece first achieved independence it was the nation’s only form of public entertainment. Sadly, it’s popularity has declined somewhat during the past several decades and Eugenios had fought hard to preserve it as part of Greece’s cultural history.

Unfortunately, I don’t think there is much video of Eugenios Spatháris’ work available online. The only clip I could find was this one, which has his voice and some of his puppetry remixed in to a dance video.

Rest in Peace Eugenios Spatháris.

11/5/09 Update: Seems that the AP and several other media outlets may have been misspelling Eugenios’ name “Evgenios”, an error I didn’t catch until it was pointed out by Alan Cook (there is still a little debate about the proper English spelling of his name). To see more of Eugenios’ work visit his YouTube channel.

I’m sad to report that we’ve lost another of the early pioneers of television puppetry. Henry “Hank” Stohl – a well-known as a puppeteer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in the 1950s and `60s – passed away on Monday after a long illness. Hank was well-known in Pittsburgh (and later New York) for the dozen years he spent working on kids’ shows beginning in 1952. Later in his career put away his puppets to become a successful actor, appearing in dozens of movies, TV series, soap operas and plays, Hank also worked steadily for many years doing commercial voice-overs. One of his well-known characters, Knish, can still be seen today on exhibit at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh.

I got up this morning to some sad news…legendary Hollywood agent/manager/studio exec Bernie Brillstein has died of heart disease at the age of 77. Bernie was known in the entertainment industry as what the Hollywood reporter called a “brash and gregarious old-school Hollywood fixture who worked his way up from the WMA mailroom in 1956 to become one of the most powerful and respected brokers of talent in the entertainment business.” He was responsible for managing the careers of many of Hollywood’s biggest stars including Adam Sandler, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston, and Gary Sinise, among others.

One of his most famous and successful clients was Jim Henson; Bernie negotiated many of key deals that helped the Muppets rise to international fame in the 1970s, famously without even ever having a written contract (they did business on a handshake). He was also a behind the scenes force on Paul Fusco’s puppet sitcom Alf in the 1980s. Bernie’s memoir Where Did I Go Right? You’re No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead is a great read and contains lots of anecdotes about his relationship with the Muppets and Alf.

Rest in Peace Bernie Brillstein and thanks for helping so many people keep us so well entertained all these years.

I just got the sad news that Kermit Love passed away last Saturday at the age of 91. Kermit was an incredible puppet builder and costume designer who was long associated with the Muppets. Kermit worked with marionettes as a child, which led to a career working on Broadway shows and eventually collaborating with Jim Henson. He was one of the key people responsible for refining the look of the classic Sesame Street Muppets; probably his most famous work was building Big Bird.

Carol Spinney (Big Bird’s puppeteer) often tells a famous anecdote about how Kermit convinced him to stick with the Muppets when he was ready to leave. After his first year on Sesame Street, Carol felt he wasn’t making enough money to live in New York and planned to tell Jim Henson he was quitting the show, but Kermit convinced him to give it another month. The next week Big Bird was on the cover of Time magazine and Carol never had another thought about leaving.

Kermit also worked on a number of successful non-Muppet puppetry projects, including the Great Space Coaster and Snuggles the Fabric Softener Bear. Although he was primarily a behind-the-scenes figure, he stepped in front of the camera to play Willy the hot dog vendor on Sesame Street for many years in the 1970s and `90s.

The puppetry world has lost another giant.

Wow, I just heard the awful news that Stan Winston passed away Sunday night at his home in Malibu after a long battle with cancer. He was 62 years old.

Even if you don’t know Stan’s name, chances are you know his work. His talented team of artists and puppeteers have created some of the most iconic movie creatures of all time; Transformers, the robots in Terminator, the Alien Queen in Aliens, the giant T-Rex in Jurassic Park and so much more. Stan won several Oscars for his work in visual effects (Aliens, Terminator 2, Jurassic Park) and make-up (Batman Returns). One of his very last jobs was devising the suits for this summer’s blockbuster Iron Man and you’ll see more of his work in upcoming movies like Avatar, Jurassic Park IV, and Terminator 4.

In time when CGI is used for almost everything on screen, people are often surprised to learn that many of the effects in movies like Jurassic Park and Transformers that they assume are computer generated are in fact done live on the set by puppeteers from the Winston studio. Iron Man director Jon Favreau called him “the king of integrating practical effects with CGI,” and Stan once summed up his work philosophy as “I don’t do special effects. I create characters and I use the tools of special effects necessary to do it.”

There is a great video tribute to Stan and his work over at JoBlo.com.

Rest in peace Stan Winston. You’ll be missed.

I just read the sad news that filmmaker Anthony Minghella has died. He is best known for directing films like The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain and won a Best Director Oscar for The English Patient, but got one of his first big breaks working for the Jim Henson Company. Minghella was credited with writing every episode of Jim Henson’s groundbreaking Storyteller series and also wrote other Henson projects like Greek Myths and Living With Dinosaurs. The world has lost a unique and very talented filmmaker.

Lesser known is the fact that Will was (to my knowledge anyway) the very first puppeteer to seriously write a blog about puppetry on the web and a very smart guy who was a fantastic advocate for the art of puppetry. I never met him in person, but we had corresponded and debated about puppetry over email many times during the past ten years and I liked him a lot.

If anyone knows more details I would appreciate you contacting me at puppetvision [@] gmail.com.