Before Frank Oz and his Yoda puppet, who was George Lucas' first choice to play Yoda?

A monkey was originally chosen to play Yoda, wearing a mask.

George Lucas originally intended to have a 2' tall monkey play Yoda in “Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back” because the technology animatronic technology wasn't thought to be advanced enough to pull off Yoda.

The monkey was even taught to hold Yoda’s signature cane.

Fortunately, someone in production brought up the point that the monkey was continually ripping the mask off, and that was going to be the least of the problems they would face in shooting the film.

They then turned to Jim Henson to create the puppet Yoda, and Frank Oz was chosen to do Yoda's voice and be the puppeteer.

Jim Henson, along with Kermit Love and Frank Oz were all connected to Sesame Street, and the Muppets.

Shari Lewis is a famous American puppeteer best known for the puppet "Lambchops".

More Info: www.huffingtonpost.com

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5 Comments

Jim Pyle

Another incorrect answer, the answer is Jim Henson. Lucas approached Jim Henson to perform him; Henson, being busy with other projects,

teacherchicky

Not true and I saw him talking about this in an interview saying that he first went to Jim Henson, thinking that since he did Kermit the frog he'd be perfect but since he had prior commitments, Henson suggested Frank Oz. The monkey thing was a joke as Lucas knew no trained monkey could ever do what he needed Yoda to do! Your reference doesn't match either because I looked it up! I'm reporting this question and answer!

Al Butler

Interesting clip from Wiki: With muppets (especially Kermit the Frog) in mind as a basis for Yoda, Lucas approached Jim Henson to perform him; Henson, being busy with other projects, instead recommended Frank Oz for the part.