Wim T. Schippers might not be a name you’re immediately familiar with, but he’s got very big Muppet connections over in the Netherlands. Unfortunately, he has just passed away at the age of 84.
Schippers began his Muppet work as the voices for Ernie and Kermit on the Dutch co-production of Sesame Street, Sesamstraat. He also would dub Count von Count, Guy Smiley, Biff, Mr. Johnson, and a buncha other one-shot guys. Uniquely, Schippers and Paul Haenen (the Dutch voice of Bert) proved to be so adept in their roles, and the characters were so popular over there, that the pair got to develop the first completely original Ernie and Bert material for a co-production, writing many concept albums for the pair. He also dubbed the voice of chef Yves St. La Roache on the Dutch dub of The Animal Show.
Schippers continued to dub new material as Ernie and the Count as late this year with the Dutch dubs of Season 56 on Netflix. He became the regular, non-Sesame voice for Kermit in the early 2000s, and was still dubbing him as late as Muppets Haunted Mansion in 2021. He’s dubbed for Jim, Steve, AND Matt’s Kermits, quite an impressive feat!
Check out some of these clips below and see just why he helped make those characters such a splash over in the Netherlands.
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By Shane Keating
