The Tragic Death of Jim Henson

Jim Henson’s legacy is undeniable all these years later, creating the Muppets and an influence on popular culture that continues through today. The Muppets, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Henson, with hands and connections all over the entertainment industry.

With his successes, Henson’s story is also tragic due to its abrupt ending. Henson passed in May 1990 at 53, with the cause being toxic shock syndrome stemming from a cold that grew into an infection and later led to his demise.

Henson had complained about a sore throat and exhaustion after his final televised appearance on The Arsenio Hall Show in LA on May 4, 1990. He traveled a bit and was scheduled to record for The Muppets on May 14, 1990, but canceled due to the illness.

He woke struggling to breathe at 2 a.m. on May 15, and coughing up blood, Henson was rushed to the hospital. Despite the efforts of the medical staff at Manhattan’s NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital intensive care unit. X-rays revealed several abscesses in Henson’s lungs and the puppeteer and filmmaker was placed on a ventilator.

“He said, ‘Just rub my back. Try to calm down my breathing.’ At one point, he said, ‘Maybe I’m dying,’” Henson’s ex-wife Jane told PEOPLE. “He did say that. But, you know, whenever you’re sick, you say, ‘God, I feel like I’m going to die.’”

The hospital used several antibiotics to clear Henson’s infection as quickly as possible, but the damage done to his organs had weakened too much. He passed away at 1:21 a.m. on May 16, 1990.

Henson’s longtime collaborator and fellow director, Frank Oz, claimed Henson’s impending deal with Disney contributed to his death, according to The Guardian.

“The Disney deal is probably what killed Jim. It made him sick,” Oz told The Guardian in 2021. His friend Richard Hunt shared his final words in his eulogy for Henson, highlighting the importance of his last message.

“Jim’s last words are most important: ‘Please watch out for each other,’” Hunt read at the memorial.

These details are back in the headlines due to the recent release of Jim Henson Idea Man on Disney+. Ron Howard directed the documentary and shared his own view on Henson’s shocking death with PEOPLE.

“Jim had a kind of this internal sense that there wasn’t going to be enough time, and whether that is because he lost an older brother who he loved very much early in his life and the fragility of life or innately knew that somehow he might not live to be an old man — who knows,” Howard said. “It’s a shame that we lost him when we did because what he’d be doing with tech today would be very exciting, and he probably would’ve pushed that medium along in a way that we would recognize.”