If you’ve had a small child in your life anytime in the last 30 years or so you know this voice. That’s Elmo, the furry red monster from Sesame Street and one of the most popular Muppet characters ever.
The puppeteer who made Elmo and his giggle famous is a Baltimore native named Kevin Clash.
Growing up in the ‘60s Clash was entranced by everything from Kukla Fran and Ollie to Captain Kangaroo and Sesame Street. At age 10 he started making his own puppets.
At 19 he was so skilled he joined the Captain Kangaroo show as a puppeteer.
And in 1984 he joined the cast of Sesame Street. Elmo came along a year later, and for the next 27 years Kevin Clash was 3-year-old Elmo.
In 2006 Clash wrote an autobiography, a book he called My Life As a Furry Red Monster. That’s when I had the chance to meet him.
So here now, from 2006, Kevin Clash.
Kevin Clash will be 65 this fall. In 2012 he publicly came out as gay