Caroll Spinney retired from voicing Big Bird in 2018.
Spinney officially announced his retirement from Sesame Street on October 17, 2018, ending a remarkable 49-year association with the program. He had performed Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since Sesame Street began in 1969, making him one of the show's foundational performers.
His work involved much more than supplying voices. Spinney operated the full-body Big Bird puppet while also performing Oscar, two characters with completely different personalities and vocal styles. Big Bird was gentle and childlike, while Oscar was famously irritable and lived in a trash can.
Spinney's retirement can sometimes be confused with the later broadcast dates of his final recordings. Some performances were recorded for the show's landmark 50th season and aired in 2020, but the retirement announcement itself was made in 2018. Matt Vogel later took over Big Bird, while Eric Jacobson assumed the role of Oscar the Grouch.