Frank Oz

Earlier in his career Frank Oz was known for his creative collaborations with the famed Jim Henson, performing many Muppet characters, including Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Animal, as well as Bert, Grover, and Cookie Monster. Some of the projects Henson and Oz worked on together included “Sesame Street,” “Saturday Night Live,” and “The Muppet Show. For his work in television, Oz has received four Emmy Awards. He has also performed the unforgettable Jedi Master, Yoda, in all of the Star Wars films.

Oz has directed The Dark Crystal (With Jim Henson), The Muppets Take Manhattan, Little Shop of Horrors, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Housesitter, What About Bob, Indian in the Cupboard, In and Out, The Score, Bowfinger, Stepford Wives, and his latest, Death at a Funeral.

Among his many honors, Oz has been awarded two George Foster Peabody awards, The American Comedy Awards’ Creative Achievement Award, The Art Director’s Guild award, and three gold and two platinum records.

MB: How long have you been performing?

FO: Since I was eleven years old. I think the first professional show I had lasted for twenty minutes, and I was paid twenty-five bucks. It happened in front of a supermarket.

MB: Were you very nervous?

FO: I only remember that I felt as I did most times before a performance— that I wanted to do it right. I wasn’t scared. I just wanted to make sure that I did a good job.

MB: As you continued to perform, did you ever become nervous?

FO: No, I was never scared or frightened of the audience. I was nervous when things went wrong—I was embarrassed. But I’ve never been really frightened of an audience, partly because as a performer, a puppeteer, you’re behind the character. When I was a kid, I had low self-esteem and I think that’s one of the reasons I became what I am. My feelings could be safe behind the character. The idea of being frightened of the audience never even came up because it wasn’t really me in front of the audience. There was something buffering me—as opposed to how it is with an actor, who’s out there naked.

That doesn’t mean that there are only unhealthy ways to be a puppeteer. There are also healthy ways. There are performers who do puppets who don’t do it for the same reason I did. They do it because it’s a means of selfexpression. I’m just saying that in my own instance I used it as a safe way to express myself without feeling rejection.

MB: Have you ever felt rejection? I’m sure you’ve made appearances as Frank Oz and not as someone operating a puppet or a Muppet.

FO: Oh, that stuff is easy. I love doing that stuff. I’ve done talk shows, I’ve gone to Cal Arts and to Harvard and to—God, I don’t know how many places I’ve been to and done question-and-answer sessions. Those are easy. Those are a piece of cake. I love doing those.

I love them because I love talking about the craft. I tried to mix things up and make it less about the fluff of it all, and more about the craft. And I challenge the audience. It’s exciting.

As an adult, I think I did it [performing] for a more healthy purpose. Now, after many, many years, I’m not hiding. I’ve found out more about who I am, and it’s too late to hide now. The audience sees who I am, and that’s the way it is. They can take me or not take me.

I don’t feel rejected if people don’t like my movies. I even challenge them. I say, “Is there any movie you didn’t like?” And I hope they say that they didn’t like a movie I did, or a performance, so I can pick it apart. I say, “Why? Let’s talk about it.” That excites me.