Franz “Faz” Fazakas (1918–2013) was the engineer behind MuppetA Muppet is a puppet built in the soft foam-and-fleece style... animatronicsAnimatronics is the use of motors, servos, cables and electr... More, and for many years head of the electro-mechanical department of the Muppet Workshop.
He started as a performer
Fazakas began in the 1950s with Bil Baird’s marionettes, appearing on Broadway in Flahooley, and worked through 1960s off-Broadway puppet productions — often alongside Jerry NelsonJerry Nelson (1934–2012) was a Muppet performer and singer... — playing the Tin Woodsman in The Wizard of Oz and the title role in Winnie the Pooh. He first came to Jim HensonJim Henson (1936–1990) was the puppeteer and filmmaker who... More in the early 1970s as a puppeteer.
What he actually became known for
was devising mechanisms that extended what a puppet could physically do. The eye mechanisms in Big Bird and Sweetums are his. So are the rod and cable systems that made tiny characters like Rizzo the Rat workable, and the radio-controlled mechanisms behind the faces of full-body characters.
The Henson Performance Control System
His radio-control design let a single performer operate an entire animatronic character, and it drove the creature work in The Dark Crystal and the goblins in Labyrinth. In 1992 it won a Scientific and Engineering Academy Award, shared with Brian Henson, Dave Housman, Peter Miller and John Stephenson.
Where to see the work
The rowing sequence in Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas and the rat cooking scenes in The Muppets Take Manhattan are the clearest showcases.
Fozzie Bear is named after him
Fazakas built the character’s ear-wiggling mechanism, and the name followed.
Why a builder should care
Fazakas is proof that the mechanical side of puppetry is a craft in its own right, learnable by someone who came in as a performer. If your interest bends toward servos and linkages rather than foamFoam is the structural material most soft puppets are built ... More and fleeceFleece is the knit fabric used as the outer skin on most mod... More, this is the lineage you are working in.