Tony Geiss | 'Sesame Street' writer, 86

Tony Geiss, 86, who entertained generations of children by putting words in the mouths of Big Bird, Kermit the Frog, Elmo, and other characters on

Sesame Street

, helping the show win 22 daytime Emmys for scriptwriting and songwriting, died Jan. 21 in Valhalla, N.Y.

He lived in Manhattan.

He had been hospitalized at Westchester Medical Center for a neck injury, Laird Townsend, his cousin, said in confirming the death.

Mr. Geiss, a well-read man who never lost a child's playfulness, wrote for Sesame Street for three decades and went on to write popular animated films for young audiences.

He invented several Muppet characters, including the Honkers, fuzzy puppets with bulbous noses whose origins lay in Mr. Geiss' childhood trick of honking his nose, and Abby Cadabby, a 3-year-old fairy who made her debut on Sesame Street's 37th season with a broken wand.

Branching out from Sesame Street, he, along with Judy Freudberg, wrote the stories or screenplays for two films directed by the great Disney animator Don Bluth and produced by Steven Spielberg, The Land Before Time and An American Tail.

He wrote for Sesame Street, produced by the Children's Television Workshop, now called Sesame Workshop, from 1973 until 2009.

- N.Y. Times News Service