Frank Oz
Frank Oz ( born May 25, 1944 in Hereford, England, United Kingdom as Richard Frank Oznowicz ) is a British- American actor, puppeteer and director. Well-known figures who played Oz included Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Bert and Yoda. Among the films in which Oz has directed include The Little Shop of Horrors and The Stepford Wives.
Life and work
Frank Oznowicz was born into a family of puppeteers. He had his first performance in 1956 at the age of 12 years. Oz played in his youth at supermarket openings, church celebrations, birthday parties and exhibitions, a varied program of different numbers. The plan to devote his career to the puppet show, Oz but never had.
Oz met Jim Henson with 17 years on a puppeteer meeting. Since 1963, Frank Oz worked for Jim Henson. Initially, Oz dared not to going to speak the dolls also. In his first roles for Henson played the Oz dolls, Henson said, the text. The collaboration arose the well-known (children's) program Sesame Street (English Sesame Street ) and the Muppet Show. For Henson, he played Bert from Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street and Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, The beast and Marvin Suggs from the Muppet Show. Oz was there mainly to develop the personalities of the individual dolls. For Henson, he was "the greatest puppeteer in the world. "
George Lucas hired Oz for the dolls role of Yoda in the Star Wars movies. Her first appearance was the figure in 1980 in The Empire Strikes Back. Oz also created the incorrect grammar of the wise Yoda. In later films Oz spoke only Yoda, without playing the doll because Yoda was represented by a computer animation.
His directorial debut was with Henson The Dark Crystal (English Orig: The Dark Crystal, 1982). Henson Oz asked for help in the production. The experience was so successful that he was then in several films directed solely for Oz. Alone, he directed the films The Muppets Take Manhattan and The Little Shop of Horrors ( The Little Shop of Horrors ) Director. By his own account he was asked for Harry Potter films, but refused. In addition, Oz is also working in the theater as a director.
In addition, Oz filled out numerous smaller movie roles. He played among other things in the films of John Landis with, for example, in The Blues Brothers, American Werewolf in London, Spies Like Us and Trading Places.
Other directing credits
Awards
Speaking roles (selection)
- Monsters, Inc. ... as Fungus
- Star Wars ... as Yoda
- Zathura - A Space Adventure ... as a robot