Frank Oz Biography

Fast Facts

• Parents were refugees from the Holocaust and were both puppeteers
• Met Muppets creator Jim Henson at age 17 at the Puppeteers of America convention
• Oz's father was the president of the association at the time
• Began working with Henson at age 19
• Stage name "Oz" acquired on the Jimmy Dean Show
• Dean apparently couldn't say his real name and uttered "Oz" during a live broadcast
• The name stuck
• Worked on Saturday Night Live in its debut season with Henson and the rest of the Muppet staff
• They were dropped after that inaugural season because the rest of the actors thought the puppets were taking time away from their sketches
• Developed the unusual backwards speech pattern made famous by his Star Wars character, Yoda
• Was described by Henson as "probably the person most responsible for the Muppets being funny
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