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File:Johnhenson-headshot.jpg
John Henson Jim Henson

John and Jim Henson

File:John Henson Sweetums.jpg

Henson with a fan at The Muppet Show Live (2001).

John Paul Henson (b. April 25, 1965 - February 14, 2014) was a performer, craftsman and co-owner of The Jim Henson Company. He was the fourth of Jim and Jane Henson's children.

In the late 1980s, Henson began performing the puppetry for Sweetums - as Richard Hunt was physically unable. Hunt continued performing the dialogue for Sweetums until his passing in 1992, after which Henson took over the character completely. He performed the part in Muppet*Vision 3D, with dialogue looped by Hunt. In later appearances, such as Muppet Treasure Island, Henson supplied both puppetry and dialogue. Henson was the primary performer of Sweetums for over a decade; his last performance of the character was for The Muppets' Wizard of Oz in 2005. In 1987, Jim Henson spoke of his son's performance work as Sweetums in a Washington Post interview. In addition to television and film projects, Henson has made live appearances as Sweetums for a number of events, including: a 1992 musical tribute to Jim Henson at the Lincoln Center in Armonk, New York; during the MuppetFest weekend in 2001; and the unveiling ceremony for Kermit the Frog's star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2002.

In the early 1980s, Henson, with John Kahn, built "The Great Hot Air Balloon Circus" to decorate the spiral staircase of the townhouse where the company made its home at the time. Although it has since been moved to a different location, another of his sculptures now welcomes visitors to the current New York offices. Made of brass and other metallic, moving parts, the piece was based on one of his father's own sketches.

Credits

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