Joan Ganz Cooney

Production

Joan Ganz Cooney

Born 1929-11-30 · Phoenix, Arizona, USA

Joan Ganz Cooney (born Joan Ganz on November 30, 1929) is an American television writer and producer. She is one of the founders of Sesame Workshop (formerly Children's Television Workshop or CTW), the organization famous for the creation of the children's television show Sesame Street, which was also co-created by her. Cooney grew up in Phoenix and earned a B.A. degree in education from the University of Arizona in 1951. After working for the State Department in Washington, D.C. and as a journalist in Phoenix, she worked as a publicist for television and production companies in New York City. In 1961, she became interested in working for educational television, and became a documentary producer for New York's first educational TV station WNET (Channel 13). Many of the programs she produced won local Emmys. (From Wikipedia)

Acting credits

Jim Henson Idea Man poster
7.8

Featuring unprecedented access to Jim Henson's personal archives, filmmaker Ron Howard brings us a fascinating and insightful look at a complex man whose boundless imagination inspired the world.

Jim Henson Idea Man

2024

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey poster
7.2

Beloved by children of all ages around the world, Elmo is an international icon. Few people know his creator, Kevin Clash, who dreamed of working with his idol, master puppeteer Jim Henson. Displaying his creativity and talent at a young age, Kevin ultimately found a home on Sesame Street. Narrated by Whoopi Goldberg, this documentary includes rare archival footage, interviews with Frank Oz, Rosie O’Donnell, Cheryl Henson, Joan Ganz Cooney and others and offers a behind-the-scenes look at Sesame Street and the Jim Henson Workshop.

Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey

2011

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street poster
7.4

Take a stroll down Sesame Street and witness the birth of the most influential children's show in television history. From the iconic furry characters to the classic songs you know by heart, learn how a gang of visionary creators changed the world.

Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street

2021

Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music poster
9.0

A television special broadcast in honor of composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist Joe Raposo following his death in early 1989.

Sing! Sesame Street Remembers Joe Raposo and His Music

1990

Sesame Street: 20 Years & Still Counting! 1969-1989 poster
7.3

This one-hour special marks the 20th anniversary of Sesame Street, the ground-breaking educational children's series that has taught numbers and the alphabet, along with social and cultural concepts, to generations of preschoolers.

Sesame Street: 20 Years & Still Counting! 1969-1989

1989

The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits poster
7.0

When "The Electric Company" made its television debut in October 1971, it was instantly clear that it would fulfill its mission of helping struggling and reluctant readers. With a ground-breaking and diverse cast, clever writing, innovative direction, and an original visual and musical style, the show was so effective that by the end of its first season, nearly a quarter of all US schools were using the show in the classroom. Generations of young people learned to read from the series, making it one of the most important and enduring shows in American television history. "The Electric Company's Greatest Hits and Bits" is a clip-filled celebration featuring many of the series' most popular segments (with Bill Cosby, Morgan Freeman, Rita Moreno and the rest of the multi-talented Electric Company cast), and includes new interviews with cast members Jim Boyd, Judy Graubart, Skip Hinnant, Tom Lehrer, Rita Moreno, and Joan Rivers, as well as with series creator Joan Ganz Cooney.

The Electric Company's Greatest Hits & Bits

2006

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story poster
7.4

A documentary about Caroll Spinney who has been Sesame Street's Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch since 1969. At 78-years-old, he has no intention of stopping.

I Am Big Bird: The Caroll Spinney Story

2015

Sesame Street Pitch Reel poster
9.0

Rowlf the Dog presents the concept of the revolutionary educational children's show, Sesame Street (1969), to Kermit the Frog.

Sesame Street Pitch Reel

1969

Behind the camera