Jerry Nelson (1934–2012) was a MuppetA Muppet is a puppet built in the soft foam-and-fleece style... performer and singer whose range across dozens of distinct characters was probably the widest of anyone in the company.
Count von Count. Floyd Pepper. Robin the Frog. Gobo Fraggle. Lew Zealand. Crazy Harry. Uncle Deadly. Dr. Julius Strangepork. Sherlock Hemlock. Those are one performer, and none of them sounds like any of the others.
How he got in
In 1965 Frank OzFrank Oz is the Muppet performer behind Miss Piggy, Fozzie B... More was drafted and Henson needed someone to perform Rowlf’s right hand on The Jimmy Dean Show. Nelson took the job. Oz then failed his draft physical — and rather than displace the man who had just been hired, took some time away from performing so Nelson could stay. That is how the Muppets acquired one of their most versatile performers.
The craft worth studying
Sustaining a dozen distinct voices across a shooting day is a technical problem, not just a creative one. Nelson was a trained singer, and the vocal control shows — the Count’s precision, Floyd’s drawl and Robin’s small clear treble come from someone who understood how to place a voice without wrecking it by take nine.
The right hand
Nelson spent years as a live-hand partner, which is its own discipline: matching another performer’s timing and breath so closely that two people read as one character.
Later years
He originated Statler and took the role back after Richard Hunt’s death in 1992. He stepped away from full performing in the mid-2000s while continuing to voice his characters, and released an album, Truro Daydreams, in 2009.