Jane Henson

Jane Ann Henson (née Nebel; June 16, 1934 – April 2, 2013) was an American puppeteer and co-founder of Muppets, Inc. with her husband Jim Henson.

Early life Jane Ann Nebel was born and raised in St. Albans, Queens. She met Jim Henson when she was a senior and he a freshman at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Nebel was a member of Alpha Xi Delta sorority.

Career Jane Nebel and Jim Henson worked together on the live 1950s television show Sam and Friends, where Jane collaborated with Jim in performing Muppets and devising several of the show's technical innovations, including the use of television monitors to watch their performances in real time.

Christopher Finch wrote, "Among the first of [Jim's] assignments at WRC-TV was Afternoon, a magazine show aimed at housewives. This marked his first collaboration with Jane Nebel – the woman who later became his wife." They did not begin dating until Jim returned from Europe, a trip which he undertook in order to be inspired by European puppeteers who viewed their work as an art form.

When she quit full-time puppeteering in the early 1960s to raise their children, Jim hired Jerry Juhl and Frank Oz to replace her. She helped Oz learn how to lip sync, Whitmire took over performing Kermit the Frog and Ernie of Sesame Street after Jim Henson's death in 1990.

In 1990, the Henson Company forged an agreement with Disney to present a live stage show, Here Come the Muppets, at Disney-MGM Studios. Jane was the main developer in the training of performers and profile creation for the walkaround versions of the Muppets: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo the Great, Bean Bunny, as well as five members of the Electric Mayhem.

Towards the end of her life, Jane Henson conceived the idea of a stylized puppet show based on the Gospel accounts of the birth of Jesus. Together with a small group of collaborators, she created a live theatre piece featuring tabletop manger figure puppets built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop. Jane Henson's Nativity Story premiered at the 2010 Orlando Puppet Festival. After Jane Henson's death in 2013, vignettes from the stage show were used in the CBS television special A New York Christmas to Remember, narrated by Regis Philbin. A tribute to Henson from family and friends was part of the national broadcast.

Personal life Jane and Jim Henson married in 1959; together they had five children: Lisa (born 1960), Cheryl (born 1961), Brian (born 1963), John (1965–2014), and Heather Henson (born 1970). Although Jane and Jim had separated in 1986, they remained close until his death in 1990. In 1992, she established The Jim Henson Legacy to preserve and perpetuate the work of her husband. She served on the boards of the Jim Henson Foundation and the American Center for Children's Television.

Illness and death On March 20, 2013, her daughter Cheryl Henson revealed that her mother had cancer and was paralyzed; she asked fans to keep Jane in their prayers. Henson died at the family home in Greenwich, Connecticut, on April 2, 2013, at the age of 78. She was buried at Saint Bridge Cemetery, Cornwall, Connecticut. The 2014 film Muppets Most Wanted was dedicated to her and to fellow Muppet performer Jerry Nelson who died in 2012.