Frank Oz
Frank Oz
Frank Ozis an English-born American filmmaker, puppeteer, and actor. His career began as a puppeteer, where he performed the Muppet characters of Miss Piggy and Fozzie Bear in The Muppet Show, and Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover in Sesame Street. He is also known for being the puppeteer and voice of Yoda in the Star Wars films...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPuppeteer
Date of Birth25 May 1944
CityHereford, England
CountryUnited States of America
I've always wanted to do non-comedies, I've always done dramas, comedies, music, and I always like to bop around and do different things.
First impression is unfair, because a first impression of somebody is guarded, and you don't know the person.
I just want to do good work. That's all I want to do. I don't have big aspirations like being the President of the United States, I just want to do good work. That's all.
Truly wonderful, the mind of a child is.
The more work I do, the more important it is to work with people I like - who are very talented.
I look back on my work and I think, 'Oh, why didn't I do that differently?'
Well, Hollywood isn't made up of individual studio heads anymore. It's made of corporations. And corporations are looking for the bottom line. They don't want to take chances. They want the money back for stockholders.
In order to be a star performer you have to have someone to play against.
I wouldn't like to be that famous, I value my privacy. Mind you, Miss Piggy enjoys every moment of it. If it were not for me, she would spend all her time in the limelight.
Hope and Crosby made seven 'Road' movies, starting in 1940 with 'Road to Singapore.' The movies were always about Crosby and Hope fleeing America and finding Dorothy Lamour in some exotic location. Bob's character was cocky and cowardly; Bing's character was smooth and unruffled. They were great characters - lousy, lovable guys.
I was born in Hereford, England, in 1944. We moved when they had an opportunity to get a visa, about 1950. My dad always thought Europe was a bit too small for him. He wanted to see the United States... The typical immigrant story. He wanted a better life for his children, too. He always tried to get the visa, and it didn't come up.
What I remember most about the 'Road' movies is my enjoyment at watching the two characters sparring with each other. But more important than that was my feeling that Hope and Crosby were enjoying the sparring, too.
I'm not an art director; I'm just not. I've always been somebody who has a sensibility that I hope is the same sensibility of others.
I bought a tape recorder and some stuff and went to Europe for three months when I was 18. The puppeteering was only there as a hobby. I wanted to be a journalist. When I was 19, and after I had spent about a year in college, Jim Henson asked me to come out and try puppeteering for awhile.