Video: RIP Jerry Nelson

In this June 2012 publicity photo released by Sesame Workshop, puppeteer Jerry Nelson is shown with "Sesame Street" characters Herry Monster, right, and Count von Count, in New York. Sesame Workshop announced that Nelson, who suffered from emphysema, died at age 78 on Thursday, Aug. 23, 2012, in his Massachusetts home on Cape Cod. (AP)

Jerry Nelson, the puppeteer behind an array of memorable characters including Count von Count on “Sesame Street” and Gobo Fraggle on “Fraggle Rock,” died last week. He was 78.

According to the Associated Press, Nelson, who suffered from emphysema, died Thursday night in his Massachusetts home on Cape Cod.

In recent years, Nelson gave up the physically demanding job of operating the Count and other puppets on “Sesame Street” but still voiced the characters, according to the AP. The show’s new season launches in September and Nelson’s voice will be heard.

He also operated the Muppet puppets Sherlock Hemlock, Herry Monster and the Amazing Mumford.

Nelson was part of other projects featuring Jim Henson’s Muppets, including the 1984 movie “The Muppets Take Manhattan” and TV series including the 1980s “Fraggle Rock” and 1990s “Muppets Tonight”

One of my favorite of the Henson projects he helped bring to life is the 1977 holiday classic “Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas,” a musical, Muppet-y twist on the O Henry story “The Gift of the Magi” based on a storybook by Russell and Lillian Hoban. Nelson voiced and operated the title character, and here is a sample, lovingly shared in his memory:

-BAM