Remembering Jerry Nelson (July 10, 1934-August 23, 2012)

[AndyWan Kenobi]

I'm thirty-five, and Jerry's voice is one I've known (actually many I've known) for my entire life. I'm so sad to hear he's gone. Thank you, Jerry Nelson, for all of your wonderful characters and for the wonderful parts of yourself that you brought to them. I hope the Count is keeping track of how many people will miss you. He's going to be counting for a long long time.

 

[PDiddymus]

Goodbye Jerry...

 

[Ozymandias]

...The Count, Floyd Pepper and Robin just lost their voices, didn't they? T_T

I'm sorry to hear about this, and his family will be in my prayers. He will be sorely missed.

 

[galagr]

No, no this can't be happening. I've been dreading this day for years. One of the only Muppet perfromers left has passed. He voiced my second and first favorite characters, Crazy Harry, and Uncle Deadly. His voice and music was inspirational. H-he was a f-freind to us all, and a-always kept us e-entertained. It, j-just, c-can't h-happ- ( starts sobbing ). I hope you got my letter, Jerry. We love you and miss you all. Say "hi" to Jim and Richard for us. Goodbye.

 

[The Shoe Fairy]

Needless to say I'm devastated to see such a large part of our collective childhoods pass away. I don't think there will be anyone that can do The Count justice in the future, not in the least like Jerry did. I'm really bummed about it all, I feel as if his contribution to FR and to SST really is what I admire most about him. He really brought a sense of characterisation nobody else could.
Rest In Peace, Jerry Nelson.

 

[beaker]

I had first gotten to privately visit with Jerry Nelson on the old Muppet Central Delphi chat back in the fall of 1998. It was a magical time to be a Muppet fan, what with Muppets From Space being filmed and some other things we believed to be in development. From his chats and his posts, you could tell Nelson was an incredibly sweet individual who had a strong interest in connecting with the fans and participating. At Muppetfest December 2001 in Santa Monica I finally had a chance to visit in person with him, and he really stole the show that entire weekend. At one point during his part in the q and a(performing Floyd) he took time to ask how many in the audience of 1100 had come from Muppet Central(he was also wearing an MC badge Frogboy had made)

He was the only Muppeteer from then on out who would regularly check in as well as post here on MC, which was very special.

Unfortunately, many of us were fearing this day, knowing about his health. Such a very gentle and warm creative soul, he gave of his performance and heart until he could no longer perform and even then continued to help out. I can only imagine how overjoy he'd be to see everyone on here, Facebook, etc commenting on how he's meant so much to everyone. Even to those who would never know his name per se, but knew the voice and the characters.

 

[beatnikchick300]

RIP. So sad, I don't know what else to say....

 

[FrackleFan2012]

That's so terrible.

He's one of my favorite Muppeters.

We'll miss you with all of our heart and all of our soul.

I hope Matt Vogel takes over The Count (both voice & puppetry) so that the character will live on.

The Count will still appear in the 2012 Macy's Thanksgiving Parade. Right?

 

[Scooterforever]

This is the 1st time I've heard the news. How utterly heartbreaking. I know it's naive and unlikely, but I hope some of the major news outlets take a break from the latest celebrity gossip to talk about the passing of this great man.

 

[Vincent L]

I'm surprised it's not mentioned on the news, or any other major non-blog website. For one thing, this is making Wikipedia citations difficult.