David Alan Barclay is a British puppeteer who had worked on some projects of The Jim Henson Company. He has been at the cutting edge of animatronic puppetry since 1979. Barclay, who hails from London, is a Master Puppeteer, Animatronic Designer and Supervisor, a CG key frame Animator, and Director and Producer of animatronic and animation projects for film and television.
Barclay was born to a Scottish mother and an English father. At age four, he performed marionettes, glove and rod puppets with his parents, Ann and Michael who formed Pex Puppet Theatre focusing their acting talents on live puppetry. When he was seven, Barclay performed traditional Punch and Judy at the British Puppet Guild, for documentary cameras. Throughout his childhood, he designed built and performed dozens of his own puppets and continued performing Punch and Judy into his late teens. He worked for other live puppet companies, Jactito, directors James and Joan Barton, and Cap and Bells, director Violet Philpott. His first work in front of camera was a brief appearance as a large dog in the British classic comedy series The Morecambe and Wise Christmas Show. This was in 1978 for Thames TV. In July 1979 he was offered the position of make up assistant working for Stuart Freeborn on the second Star Wars film The Empire Strikes Back. The main challenge was a state-of-the-art hand puppet named Yoda, and Barclay assisted building duplicate parts, seaming the foam latex head skins, etc., but when assistant puppeteer Wendy Midener Froud became allergic to something on the set, he was drafted in as a puppeteer. Dave performed the cable controlled facial movements for Muppet master Frank Oz, the chief puppeteer. When Oz had to return to New York City to shoot Sesame Street, as the production had run over, Oz nominated Barclay to take over as chief puppeteer for Yoda. Barclay was then invited to become the first British puppet maker on a new adventurous project by Jim Henson and Frank Oz, The Dark Crystal. In November 1979, he joined a handful of Henson's American puppet makers, to develop puppets that would finally become the entire cast of the movie. And so started the long-term relationship and desire to push the envelope in animatronic performance art.
Dave Barclay at Galaxy Con Raleigh 2023Dave Barclay at Galaxy Con Raleigh 2023
James Maury Henson was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well-known for creating Fraggle Rock (1983–1987) and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). He was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in both Leland, Mississippi, and University Park, Maryland.
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by the Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by the Walt Disney Company in 2004.
Frank Oz is a British-born American actor, puppeteer, and filmmaker. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and the Muppets, as well as his directorial work in feature films and theater including Star Wars.
Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer. Such a performance is also known as a puppet production. The script for a puppet production is called a puppet play. Puppeteers use movements from hands and arms to control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer sometimes speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, while at other times they perform to a recorded soundtrack.
Brian Henson is an American puppeteer, director, producer, voice actor and the chairman of The Jim Henson Company. He is the son of puppeteers Jim and Jane Henson.
Drew Massey is an American voice actor, puppeteer and director for Nickelodeon and the Jim Henson Company. He has worked extensively with the Muppets and has performed in many films, television series, and commercials. He has also lent his voice to many commercials and video games.
Jane Ann Henson was an American puppeteer and the wife of Jim Henson.
Kathryn Mullen is an American puppeteer, actress, and voice actress most closely associated with Jim Henson projects.
Digital puppetry is the manipulation and performance of digitally animated 2D or 3D figures and objects in a virtual environment that are rendered in real time by computers. It is most commonly used in filmmaking and television production, but has also been used in interactive theme park attractions and live theatre.
Michael Earl was an American puppeteer. A four-time Emmy Award-winner whose credits include Mr. Snuffleupagus on Sesame Street (1978–1981) and Dr. Ticktock in Ticktock Minutes, a musical series of PSA's on PBS he also co-created, scripted and wrote lyrics for that garnered 11 Southern Regional Emmys, a 1998 National Emmy for Best Public Service Announcements, a Gabriel Award, 2 Parents' Choice Awards and numerous other honors. Earl performed the original Shrek character in a motion-capture development test film for DreamWorks and puppeteered lead characters in Paramount Pictures' Team America: World Police.
Karen Leigh Prell is an American puppeteer and animator. She is the performer of Red Fraggle in Fraggle Rock.
David Chapman is an English actor, presenter, puppeteer and voice artist.
Bruce Lanoil is an American puppeteer who works for The Jim Henson Company and for The Walt Disney Company. He frequently works with puppeteer David Alan Barclay.
Alice Catherine Dinnean is an American puppeteer, voice actress and creative writer who works at The Jim Henson Company. Dinnean has performed on many children's television shows such as The Puzzle Place, Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House, Cousin Skeeter, Jim Henson's Pajanimals, Sid the Science Kid and Jack's Big Music Show. She also did work on various non-Muppet productions such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
Toby Philpott is an English puppeteer best known for his work in motion picture animatronics during the 1980s in such films as The Dark Crystal and Return of the Jedi. Born into a family of entertainers, Philpott dropped out of school and traveled the world during the 1960s, squatting in various locations and surviving off money he earned from his work as a street performer, which included juggling, fire eating, magic shows, clowning and acrobatics. He began his film career after Jim Henson personally selected Philpott to work on the 1982 fantasy film The Dark Crystal, in which he worked side-by-side with Henson.
A puppet is an object, often resembling a human, animal or mythical figure, that is animated or manipulated by a person called a puppeteer. The puppeteer buses movements of their hands, arms, or control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer often speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, and then synchronizes the movements of the puppet's mouth with this spoken part. The actions, gestures and spoken parts acted out by the puppeteer with the puppet are typically used in storytelling. Puppetry is a very ancient form of theatre which dates back to the 5th century BC in Ancient Greece. There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made from a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They range from very simple in construction and operation to very complex.
Jim Henson's Creature Shop is a special/visual effects company founded in 1979 by puppeteer Jim Henson, creator of The Muppets. The company is based out of Burbank, California, United States.
Mak Wilson is a now retired English puppeteer, writer, CG animation director, and mocap artist. He is also known as Mac Wilson and Malcolm Wilson.
Mike Quinn is an English puppeteer, animator, actor, director, producer, voice-over artist, puppet builder, composer and mentor. He is also known as Mike Quinby, Michael E. Quinn, and Michael Quinn.
Allan Trautman is an American puppeteer, best known for his work with The Jim Henson Company.
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