Don Austen

Don Austen
Born (1958-01-19) 19 January 1958 (age 66)
England, U.K.
OccupationPuppeteer
Notable workSanta Claus: The Movie, The Little Shop of Horrors, Who Framed Roger Rabbit[1]

Don Austen (born 19 January 1958) is an English puppeteer. Austen joined the Jim Henson Creature Shop in 1986 for the movie Labyrinth. He was a puppeteer for other blockbuster movies including Santa Claus: The Movie (1985), The Little Shop of Horrors (1986), Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), The Bear (L'ours) (1988), The Witches (1990), and Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999).[2]

Most notably he performed in The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), inside both the Ghost of Christmas Present and The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. He also managed briefly to boost numbers in Muppet Treasure Island (1996) as Pirate Crew and Cannibals.

  1. ^ British Puppeteers: Gordon Murray, Don Austen, John Eccleston, Warrick Brownlow-Pike, William Todd-Jones, A. R. Philpott, Kathryn Mullen. General Books LLC. September 2010. ISBN 978-1-157-31409-7.
  2. ^ Bouzereau, Laurent; Duncan, Jody (10 May 1999). Star Wars the Making of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Ballantine Publ. Group. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-345-43111-0. Retrieved 15 July 2011.