| Traveled through Europe for several months, where he was inspired by European puppeteers |
| While attending high school, he began working for WTOP-TV creating puppets for a Saturday morning children's show |
1955 | Co-created (with future wife Jane) "Sam and Friends," a live-action puppet show for WRC-TV, a local station in Washington, D.C.; the show included a primitive version of what would become Kermit the Frog |
1963 | Began working with longtime collaborator Frank Oz, when he was hired to replace Henson's wife when she quit muppeteering to raise their children |
1963 | Moved with wife to New York City and formed Muppets, Inc. |
1964 | Created Rowlf, a piano-playing anthropomorphic dog, who began making regular appearances on "The Jimmy Dean Show" (ABC) |
1966 | Produced the nine-minute short-film "Time Piece"; earned an Academy Award nomination |
1969 | Began working with the Children's Television Workshop to create several characters, such as Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Cookie Monster and Big Bird, for the PBS show "Sesame Street" |
1969 | Produced and directed "The Cube," an hour-long teleplay that aired on NBC's weekly anthology television show "NBC Experiment in Television" |
1970 | Directed "Tales From Muppetland," a short series of TV movie specials hosted by Kermit the Frog |
1975 | Produced a series of sketches on the first season of "Saturday Night Live" (NBC) |
1976 | Created the syndicated primetime series "The Muppet Show," which introduced the memorable characters Miss Piggy, Gonzo the Great, and Fozzie Bear |
1979 | Produced first feature starring his beloved characters, "The Muppet Movie"; also featured the Academy Award nominated song "The Rainbow Connection," sung by Henson as Kermit |
1980 | Collaborated with make-up artist Stuart Freeborn and puppeteer Frank Oz in the creation of Jedi Master Yoda for the Star Wars film "The Empire Strikes Back" |
1981 | Directed first feature "The Great Muppet Caper" |
1982 | Co-directed the darker themed fantasy film "The Dark Crystal" with Frank Oz; also co-wrote |
1982 | Founded the Jim Henson Foundation to promote and develop the art of puppetry in the U.S. |
1983 | Returned to creating children's programming with the HBO series "Fraggle Rock" |
1984 | Created the animated series "Jim Henson's Muppet Babies" for CBS |
1984 | Produced the Frank Oz directed "The Muppets Take Manhattan" |
1986 | Directed the fantasy film "Labyrinth," starring David Bowie and produced by George Lucas |
1988 | Created the short-lived primetime series "The Storyteller" |
1989 | Returned to television with the short-lived series "The Jim Henson Hour" (NBC) |
1990 | Final project before his death was the NBC televison special "The Muppets at Walt Disney World" |
1991 | Credited for the idea of the ABC TV series "Dinosaurs" |
2011 | Credited for the characters featured in "The Muppets," starring Jason Segel and Amy Adams |
