Faz Fazakas

Faz Fazakas was a special effects designer and puppeteer who worked in many Muppet productions. Faz began puppetry during the 1950s with Bil Baird and his marionettes. Not to mention 1960s off-Broadway puppet shows, like Winnie the Pooh (as the title character). He first worked as a puppeteer for Jim Henson in the early 1970s on two of the three Tales from Muppetland specials. However Fazakas' primary talents came from devising mechanical devices to make the puppets gain expression and allowing more range of movement. Since then, Faz was the head of the electro mechanical department in the Muppet Workshop. I think that the best work he's done was on Fraggle Rock. Because he created radio controlled mechanisms that were used as faces of full-bodied characters. He also made cable control systems that allowed the use of controlling tiny characters (e.g. Doozers). It's amazing how Faz Fazakas was able to make devices that can operate puppets of different sizes while making them more realistic. I have read that in 1992, he, Brian Henson, and others shared an award for creating the HPCS (Henson Performance Control System). A few years later Fazakas left the company after years of working with the Muppets. It's a shame Fazakas left the workshop from some of the great things he's done on The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, and Fraggle Rock (to name a few). There's worse to come, because in 2013, Faz died from natural causes. He lived a superb life working in the Muppet Workshop responsible for the mechanics. Both the Muppet Workshop and the mechanics behind the Muppet characters won't be the same. Faz Fazakas, you're a wiz at mechanisms and not so bad at puppeteering in the early days. I hope that you live a happy life in heaven with several of the people you've worked with. You're the reason the Muppets have looked more realistic. Rest in peace Faz!