Audrey Atterbury

Audrey Atterbury was a British puppeteer and antiques dealer who was best known for her work on many puppet series during the 1950s-1960s. She started out performing on BBC children's series Andy Pandy before performing on Flower Pot Men, The Woodentops, and The Telegoons. Audrey was one of those many puppeteers to perform on television before the Jim Henson era, though she probably never heard of the man during that time. Atterbury also did puppet plays by Gordon Murray such as Rubovian Legends alongside her close puppeteer friend Molly Gibson. She even worked for the Little Angel Theatre, one of Britain's leading puppet theatres, where Ronnie LeDrew and Sarah Burgess also performed years later. It's a shame she mostly did puppetry during the 1950s and early 1960s for she could've had the opportunity to learn about the Muppets and their performers. Later in the 1960s, Audrey Atterbury stopped working with puppets due to animation taking over during that time and became an antiques dealer. Specialized in both pottery and porcelain, she worked part-time with antiques and building a ceramic collection at the same time. As the years passed, she worked for numerous antique dealers and joined Christie's in 1987, where she became the longest serving and most respected team member. Audrey may not have done puppetry after the 1960s, but at least she made a living of her antiques career which earned herself accomplishments later on. Sadly, Atterbury's life came to an end as she died in April 1997, and her ceramic collections were sold at a Christie's auction afterwards. Even though she's gone, lots of people will remember her for her time as pioneer puppeteer based on the decades showing off her puppetry skills. It's a shame she hasn't introduced herself to any Muppet performers when she was still alive, but then again, she probably never even heard of the term "Muppet" ever in her life. Audrey Atterbury, you were great on Andy Pandy, Flower Pot Men, and all of those other early BBC puppetry series. You were also swell at being an antiques dealer for the rest of your life. You may be gone, but you'll always be a historical puppeteer by millions of people in Britain and maybe even the whole world. Well played and sold Audrey. Rest in peace Atterbury!