Oscar the Grouch
First appearance: November 10, 1969
Gender: Male
Voiced by Caroll Spinney
Oscar the Grouch is a Muppet character on the television program Sesame Street. He has a green body (during the 1969–1970 season he was orange), has no nose, and lives in a garbage can. His favorite thing in life is trash; evidence for this is the song "I Love Trash". Although "The Grouch" aptly describes his misanthropic interaction with the other characters, it is also the name of his species. The character is performed by Carroll Spinney.
Oscar is named after Oscar Billy, a musician and one of the early board members of the Children's Television Workshop. Carroll Spinney has said in interviews that he modeled Oscar's voice on that of a grumpy New York cab driver he once hailed. Spinney's other lead character is Big Bird. During the first season of Sesame Street, the street set was arranged such that Spinney, who is right-handed, was forced to operate Oscar's head with his left hand. A subsequent redesign of the set allowed him to switch hands.
Sesame Street is localised for some different markets, and Oscar is often renamed.
- Bodoque was/is a brown Mexican Grouch who lived in a pile of boxes on Plaza Sesamo (from 1981 to 1995).
- Rumpel is a green German Grouch (since 1989). He is not identical to Oscar, who was featured in the early German adaptions of the American episodes.
- In Portugal his name is Ferrão, and does not live in a trash can, but rather in a barrel.
- In Turkey he is named Kırpık and lives in a big basket.
- In Pakistan he is named Akhtar and lives in a rusty oil barrel roll.
- In Israel a slightly different, orange puppet who lives in an old stationary car is called Moishe Oofnik: "Moyshe the complainer", loosely translated. It was mentioned in the show that Oscar was his American cousin.
- In Brazil his name is Gugu.
- In Poland his name is Oskar Zrzęda.
- In France his name was Mordicus in the first adaptation of the show (1, Rue Sésame).
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partly taken from wikipedia
