{{Short description|American film puppeteer and designer (died 2026)}} {{Infobox person | name = Lyle Conway | birth_date = | birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | death_date = {{circa}} March 2026 | death_place = | occupation = Puppeteer, actor, producer, designer, fabrication supervisor | employer = Jim Henson's Creature Shop, Disney, Rob Bottin }}
'''Lyle Conway''' (died {{circa}} 2026) was an American actor, puppeteer and designer, best known for his work with Jim Henson on ''The Dark Crystal'' (1982) and his work on ''Little Shop of Horrors'' through the creation of the Audrey II puppet.
== Early life == Lyle Conway was raised in Chicago's Southwest side. He gained interest in the world of fantasy creatures as a child through the TV show ''Kukla, Fran, and Ollie'', and the film ''King Kong''. Conway created his first puppets as a child using household materials to replicate these characters. When Conway was older he attended art school where he won several awards from the Art Institute of Chicago before moving on to Hollywood.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal |last=Koch |first=Phil |date=Sep 1987 |title=The Man Behind the Plant |url=https://archive.org/details/CinefantastiqueVol17No5Sept1987/Cinefantastique%20Vol%2017%20No%205%20%28Sept%201987%29/page/n23/mode/2up |journal=Cinefantastique |volume=17 |issue=5 |pages=27}}</ref>
== Career == Conway worked as a social worker for four years and then went on to design for a leading toy company. He then began his work in Hollywood with Gene Warren and David Allen. Conway worked under Jim Henson in the Creature Shop where he began his work sculpting Miss Piggy for the fifth season of ''The Muppet Show'' and ''The Great Muppet Caper.''<ref name=":1" />
On ''The Muppet Show'' Conway worked mainly as a Muppet designer. He worked as a sculptor for characters like Miss Piggy and the Dodo.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Finch |first=Christopher |title=Of Muppets and Men: The Making of the Muppet Show |publisher=Alfred A. Knopf |year=1981 |isbn=9780394520858}}</ref> He also was the creator behind Lyle the Dog, and the character was named after him.
This allowed him to work on the film ''The Dark Crystal''. On ''Dark Crystal'', Conway was the design and fabrication supervisor of creature development.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Lyle Conway – The Dark Crystal |url=https://www.darkcrystal.com/mythology/canon/the-dark-crystal/film-credits/lyle-conway/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.darkcrystal.com}}</ref> He worked specifically on Skeksis, Urskeks, and Aughra where he developed cable and radio control mechanisms through the creation of their animatronic characters. Conway built and designed the Aughra puppet used in the film.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Jim Henson Exhibition: Imagination Unlimited at The Henry Ford |url=https://www.detroitnews.com/picture-gallery/news/local/wayne-county/2021/06/18/jim-henson-exhibition-imagination-unlimited-henry-ford/7749487002/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=The Detroit News |language=en-US}}</ref> Conway also provided the voice of the Urskeks.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Lyle Conway {{!}} Special Effects, Additional Crew, Actor |url=https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0176732/ |access-date=2023-12-05 |website=IMDb |language=en-US}}</ref>
He led the design team on Disney and Walter Murch's film ''Return to Oz''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=2/–/1984 – 'Brian H. to London to work on OZ.' {{!}} Jim Henson's Red Book |url=https://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2012/02/2-1984/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.henson.com}}</ref> There he created characters including Jack Pumpkinhead, Billina, and Gump. Conway not only created Gump but voiced the character as well. The character Jack Pumpkinhead was voiced by Brian Henson through Conway's casting.<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |date=2016-10-31 |title=MVPs of Horror: The 'Little Shop of Horrors' Puppet Master Who Brought the Blood-Thirsty Plant to Life |url=https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/mvps-of-horror-the-little-shop-of-horrors-puppet-master-who-brought-the-blood-thirsty-plant-to-life-174643066.html |access-date=2023-12-13 |website=Yahoo Entertainment |language=en-US}}</ref>
Conway returned to the Jim Henson Creature Shop to work on the film ''Dreamchild'' where he oversaw the shop for the film.<ref name=":2" /> Through his experience, he and his team were able to efficiently create several creatures with a minimal budget.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=7/16/1984 – 'Dreamchild begins shooting.' {{!}} Jim Henson's Red Book |url=https://www.henson.com/jimsredbook/2014/07/7161984/ |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=www.henson.com}}</ref> Conway described it as, "one-fourth the work of ''The Dark Crystal'' at ten times the speed",<ref name=":3" /> where they created six creatures in fourteen weeks.
He worked on the film ''Link'' where he was a creature effects supervisor as well as a consultant on the film.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":4" />
Conway created the animatronics used in the TV movie ''Red Crow and the Ghost Ship''. One of the animatronics that Conway worked on was the Red Crow.<ref name=":0" />
He worked on the television film ''The'' ''Murders in the Rue Morgue'' as a puppet designer and creator. Here he created the ape used in the film.<ref name=":0" />
Conway worked under Frank Oz on ''Little Shop of Horrors'' where they created and designed the Audrey II puppet. When Conway was designing the puppet he looked towards flower shops and botanical gardens to look for inspiration. Conway wanted Audrey II to be a cross between a cactus and Ukrainian eggs. He wanted to make Audrey II into something precious that Seymour would take home with him.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Mathews |first=Jack |date=1987-01-05 |title='LITTLE SHOP'S' MEAN GREEN MOTHER |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-01-05-ca-2320-story.html |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}}</ref> In the designing process, Conway and Frank Oz had conflicting ideas on what Audrey II should look like. Oz wanted to make Audrey II look soft and Conway wanted to make it look horrific so they had to compromise and ended up creating the Audrey II used in the film.<ref name=":6" /> Conway began creating Audrey II through the creation of working prototypes that they named the "Feed Me" Plant. This prototype was created for three months before being rebuilt.<ref name=":5" /> Conway used cables, radio controls, and hydraulic pumps to achieve the movement seen in the film<ref name=":6" /> and foam rubber and cables to create the puppet.<ref name=":5" /> Both Conway and Oz recorded the footage of Audrey II's movement so it could be reviewed. Through this revision, Conway sped through the footage and realized that Audrey II's movement looked better sped up. Because of this Conway pitched the idea of having the actors act in slow motion and to speed it up in the final cut to make the puppet more fluid. The actors agreed to this and the scenes where the actors are in the same frame as Audrey II were performed in slow motion.<ref name=":5" /> Through his work on the Audrey II puppet'','' Conway was nominated for three awards, an Academy Award in the category Best Visual Effects (co-nominated with Bran Ferren and Martin Gutteridge), a Saturn Award, and a BAFTA film award, for the special effects used.<ref name=":0" />
He worked on ''The Blob'' where he focused on the special effects and was one of the designers. Conway was originally in charge of the film's effects<ref>Warren, Bill (September 1988). "To Build a Better Blob". ''Fangoria'' (77): 48–51.</ref> but after personnel changes, Tony Gardner took over.<ref>Timpone, Anthony. "Men, makeup, and monsters." Macmillan, 1996, p. 187. {{ISBN|0-312-14678-7}}</ref>
Conway was the associate producer on the film ''Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie''.<ref name=":0" />
On the 1998 film ''Deep Rising,'' Conway was hired by Rob Bottin's studio. He worked as a painter on the film's crew.<ref name=":0" />
In the 1998 film ''Blade,'' Conway makes an appearance as the character Reichardt.<ref name=":0" />
He worked for Jim Henson's creature shop on the 2009 film ''Where the Wild Things Are.'' For this film, he sculpted the models of the monsters.<ref name=":2" />
== Death == On March 4, 2026, it was announced that Conway had died.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Hennes |first1=Joe |title=RIP Puppet Designer Lyle Conway |url=https://www.toughpigs.com/lyle-conway/ |access-date=20 March 2026 |publisher=Tough Pigs |date=4 March 2026}}</ref> At the 98th Academy Awards, his name was mentioned in the ''In Memoriam'' section.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aframe.oscars.org/news/in-memoriam|title=In Memoriam|work=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|access-date=March 15, 2026}}</ref>
== Filmography ==
=== Film === {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Film !Designer !Producer !Puppeteer !Actor !Role !Notes<ref name=":0" /> |- |1979 |''The Day Time Ended'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |Stop-motion Figures Designer and Creator |- |1981 |''The Great Muppet Caper'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |Muppet Builder & Designer |- |1982 |''The Dark Crystal'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{Yes}} |Urskes |Creature Design and Fabrication Supervisor |- | rowspan="2" |1985 |''Return to Oz'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{Yes}} |{{Yes}} |The Gump (voice) |Muppet Builder & designer |- |''Dreamchild'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{Yes}} |{{No}} | |Creature Effects Supervisor |- | rowspan="2" |1986 |''Link'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |Creature Effects Supervisor, Consultant<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Lyle Conway |url=https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/38319%7C0/Lyle-Conway |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111026125233/http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/38319%7C0/Lyle-Conway/ |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 26, 2011 |access-date=2023-12-12 |website=Turner Classic Movies |language=en}}</ref> |- |''Little Shop of Horrors'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |Designer and Creator of "Audrey II" |- |1988 |''The Blob'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |"Blob" Creature Effects Designer and Creator |- |1995 |''Trinity and Beyond: The Atomic Bomb Movie'' |{{No}} |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |Associate Producer |- | rowspan="2" |1998 |''Deep Rising'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |Painter |- |''Blade'' |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{Yes}} |Reichardt |Actor |- |2009 |''Where the Wild Things Are'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |{{No}} |{{No}} | |Sculptor |}
=== Television === {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Film !Designer !Puppeteer !Notes<ref name=":0" /> |- |1980 |''The Muppet Show'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |Muppet Designer |- | rowspan="2" |1986 |''Red Crow and the Ghost Ship'' |{{Yes}} |{{Yes}} |Worked on Animatronics |- |''The Murders in the Rue Morgue'' |{{Yes}} |{{No}} |Puppet Designer and Creator<ref name=":4" /> |}
== Awards and nominations == {| class="wikitable" |+ !Year !Award !Category !Nominated work !Result<ref name=":0" /> |- |1987 |Academy Award |Best Effects, Visual Effects | rowspan="3" |''Little Shop of Horrors'' |{{Nominated}} |- |1987 |Saturn Award |Best Special Effects |{{Nominated}} |- |1988 |BAFTA Film Award |Best Special Effects |{{Nominated}} |}
== References == {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Lyle}} Category:20th-century births Category:Year of birth missing Category:2026 deaths Category:American puppeteers Category:People from Chicago