Kermit Love

Kermit Ernest Hollingshead Love (August 7, 1916 – June 21, 2008) was an American puppeteer, costume designer, and actor in children's television and on Broadway. He was best known for his work on Muppets, mainly ones on Sesame Street.

Love started his work when he was young, at first doing work for Broadway, such as making marionettes. He worked with many great names at the time in Broadway and ballet.

In the 1960s, Don Sahlin told Love to meet with Jim Henson, which was where Love and Henson first met. Due to his work in theater, Love knew how to make full-body puppets well. Soon after, Love made Big Bird and other muppets. Even though his name was Kermit, he was not the namesake of Kermit the Frog, who Henson made before meeting Love.

Love still made some non-Sesame Street characters until the early 2000s. He died on June 21, 2008 of heart failure in Poughkeepsie, New York. He is outlived by his life partner, Christopher Lyall.