Big Bird

Big Bird
Sesame Street character
Big Bird as seen at Sesame Place.
First appearance	November 10, 1969
Created by	Jim Henson Kermit Love
Portrayed by	Caroll Spinney (1969–present) Matt Vogel (circa 1998–present; understudy)
Voiced by	Caroll Spinney
Information
Aliases	Grandsonny, a nickname given to him by his Granny Bird Bird, by his best friend, Mr. Snuffleupagus
Gender	Male

Big Bird is a character on the children's television show Sesame Street. Officially performed by Caroll Spinney since 1969, he is an eight-foot two-inch (249 cm) tall bright yellow canary. He can roller skate, ice skate, dance, swim, sing, write poetry, draw, and even ride a unicycle. Despite this wide array of talents, he is prone to frequent misunderstandings, on one occasion even singing the alphabet as one big long word (from the song called "ABC-DEF-GHI," pronounced /æbkədefgi:dʒekəlmɪnɒpkɔ:rstu:vwɪksɪz/), pondering what it could ever mean. He lives in a large nest behind the 123 Sesame Street brownstone and has a teddy bear named Radar.

In 2000, Big Bird was named a Living Legend by the United States Library of Congress.

As Muppeteer Caroll Spinney has aged, the show has gradually started to train new performers to play Big Bird. These apprentices include both Rick Lyon in the opening theme song of the show's 33rd season on, and Matt Vogel in the show's Journey to Ernie segment.

Caroll Spinney was sick during the taping of a few first-season episodes, so Daniel Seagren performed Big Bird in those episodes. He also performed Big Bird when he appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969 and on The Hollywood Squares in the 1970s. According to The Story of Jim Henson by Stephanie St. Pierre, the costume was built for Jim Henson to perform, but when Henson tried it on, Kermit Love, who had built the costume, did not think that Henson was walking like a bird is supposed to walk, and so Henson decided not to perform Big Bird. Frank Oz was offered the part, but since he hated performing full-body characters, he turned down the job.