Kermit the Frog

A selective time line for Kermit the Frog:

• Kermit was probably born in 1936. Evidence for this is found in the direct-to-video film Kermit's Swamp Years, in which 12-year-old Kermit meets 12-year-old Jim Hanson, whose birth year is 1936. His place of birth is almost certainly Leland, Mississippi. He comes from a large family, having approximately 2,353 siblings.
• Kermit's first acting performance was given in 1955, when he appeared on WRC-TV's Sam and Friends. His form was somewhat amorphous, and other physical characteristics were typical of adolescent froglets who have recently shed their tails -- he was slimmer than the Kermit we know today, and his skin was still quite dull shade of green. These differences have given rise to occasional rumors that Kermit was, in fact, a lizard, though the fact that he was still a teenager when he first appeared on screen is a more likely explanation for his changing appearance.
• By 1965, Kermit was being billed on major national television shows such as Johnny Carson's Tonight Show as Kermit the Frog, removing any possible lingering doubts about his species.
• In 1969 Sesame Street aired for the first time, with Kermit as one of its main characters. He still makes occasional appearances on the show.
• Kermit is probably best known as the central character in The Muppet Show, which was first broadcast between 5 September 1976 and 15 March 1981 on ATV in the UK.
• Controversy continues around whether Kermit's marriage to Miss Piggy, as shown in the 1984 movie The Muppets Take Manhattan, did in fact take place.
• In 1996 Kermit delivered the commencement address at Southampton College in New York, where he was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Amphibious Letters.
• In 2002, Kermit received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
• In 2005, commemorative stamps featuring Kermit and other Muppet stars were released by the United States Postal Service. This was said to mark the occasion of Kermit's fiftieth birthday, though it was in fact the fiftieth anniversary of his first public appearance (see first bullet point above for his probable birth date).
• His IMDb entry lists only only five acting roles. In most of his movie and television appearances, Kermit appeared as himself. Kermit is also a published author. His bestselling book Before You Leap: A Frog's-Eye View of Life's Greatest Lessons was re-issued in an expanded edition in 2012.

"Someday we'll find it, that rainbow connection, the lovers, the dreamers and me."

You can read more about this universally acclaimed star on his IMDb entry, on Wikipedia, and on his Wikia entry.