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Don Sahlin

Known For
Acting

Known Credits
4

Gender
Male

Birthday
June 19, 1928 (98 years old)

Place of Birth
Stratford, Connecticut, USA

Don Sahlin

Biography

Donald George Sahlin (June 19, 1928 – February 19, 1978) was a Muppet designer and builder who worked for Jim Henson from 1962 to 1977. Muppets creator Jim Henson described Sahlin as “the man most responsible for the look of the Muppets.” Sahlin began making puppets at age 11, initially building a shadow theater and cardboard figurines. As an adult he built several puppets for Kukla, Fran and Ollie and created special effects sequences for films such as G.I. Blues and The Time Machine.

His first creation for Jim Henson was Rowlf the Dog, which he built in 1962 for a series of Purina Dog Chow commercials. Don would go on to design and build most of the Muppet characters, including Bert and Ernie, Grover, and Cookie Monster among others. His character designs are often recognizable for their spheroid heads partially bisected to create large mouths. Henson later had a bench in London dedicated to his memory. The series finale of Fraggle Rock is also dedicated to him. After all the regular credits have been shown, a special credit appears which reads "This show is for Don Sahlin".

Description above from the Wikipedia article Don Sahlin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Known For

Acting

2025The Muppet Scriptas Self (archive footage)
2024Jim Henson Idea Manas Self (archive footage)
1970The Muppets on Puppetsas Self
1965Time Pieceas Comic

Production

1983Big Bird in China...Special Effects
1978Christmas Eve on Sesame Street...Props
1965Time Piece...Special Effects
1962The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm...Animation
1961Visual Thinking...Prop Designer
1960Spartacus...Special Effects