Baird, Bil and Cora

Baird, Bil and Cora

(born Aug. 15, 1904, Grand Island, Neb., U.S.—died March 18, 1987, New York, N.Y.) (born Jan. 26, 1912, New York City—died Dec. 6, 1967, New York City) U.S. puppeteers. Bil Baird (originally William Britton Baird) worked under the puppeteer Tony Sarg for five years then produced his own puppet shows from the mid 1930s. He and Cora Eisenberg married in 1937 and began to create original puppets, scenery, and music for their shows. They produced a series of television shows in the 1950s and opened their own marionette theatre in New York in 1966. Bil wrote The Art of the Puppet (1965) and trained puppeteers such as Jim Henson.