David Barrington-Holt(1945-2024)

After receiving a Bachelor of Arts degree in industry design with honors from London's University of the Arts in 1963, Holt began his illustrious thirty-year career as a creator, building his reputation as a skilled photographer, designer, engineer and model maker. In 1986, Holt began collaborating with the Jim Henson Company, a partnership that would span over two decades. He started in the United Kingdom as a deputy supervisor for the Creature Shop before being moved up to creative supervisor. In 1993, he crossed the world to Los Angeles to assist in starting the Henson Company's first creature shop on the West Coast in preparation to produce characters for Disney's 1991 Jurassic sitcom "Dinosaurs". At the Creature Factory, Holt oversaw creative oversight of shop operations which included animatronics, puppetry, special effects, administrative matters, research and development including the realm of real-time third dimensional computer generated animation. Holt was essential in the creation of the Henson Performance Control System, which allowed puppeteers to instinctively operate complex, computer-powered puppet systems, as if they were physical. His credits with the Henson Company include "George of the Jungle", "The Phantom", "Indian in the Cupboard", "Dr. Dolittle", "Jack Frost", "Scooby-Doo", "Snow Dogs", "Stuart Little 2", "Cats and Dogs" and "The Country Bears". After his time at the Creature Shop, Holt spent his three years as an imagineer at Disney where he worked on the technical transfer of innovative animatronics for public exhibits. He then spent the rest of his career as a consultant for various companies including the Chiodo Brothers, Insudung Media, 11:11 Creative and Reisman Models.