Terri Hardin

American puppeteer

Terri Hardin Jackson (born June 21, 1957) is an American puppeteer, artist, and former Disney imagineer. Her first Hollywood job came during her college years in which she built the stillsuits for the film version of Dune and acted as a stunt double for Sean Young. A job on the Columbia Pictures blockbuster Ghostbusters followed in which she played both of the demon dogs at the "Temple of Zuul" and served as a puppeteer for both the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man and the ghost librarian seen at the opening of the film. Hardin was hired by Disney Studios in 1987 during her stint with Universal Studios Hollywood as a sculptor creating "walk around" character costumes. She helped design the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and La Tanière du Dragon (The Dragon's Lair) attractions at Disneyland Paris. Hardin later worked for Disney's sculpting team, where she contributed to the Splash Mountain attractions and to Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D. She has also created sculptures Disney collectables and for Mattel, Nickelodeon and Applause. Hardin worked for The Jim Henson Company for over 30 years, performing in Dinosaurs, The Flintstones, The Indian in the Cupboard and The Country Bears. In 2015, the book A Galaxy All Their Own was published with Terri on the cover and had over two pages dedicated to her inside.

The list of attractions that Terri had a hand in while in Walt Disney Imagineering is extensive. Star Tours is one of the most popular attractions in Disneyland's Tomorrowland. When the attraction first opened, the seats were made out of a foam type material over which were cloth covers. If a guest became ill while on the attraction, a Cast Member would pull off the cover and take it out for cleaning. Meanwhile, a new cover was put on the seat. The problem was the foam would sometimes absorb the liquids into it before the cover could be removed and replaced. It wasn't very clean. Terri was brand new to Imagineering at the time when Disney came to her and begged her to make a “vomit seat.” She sculpted a seat that could fit buttocks but was shaped to “gather” the liquids that might end up on the seat. And, it had to be made out of non absorbent material. This was Terri's first project in Imagineering. Splash Mountain The model sculpt for the Br’er Fox on Splash Mountain in three Disney parks. The Br’er Rabbit log figurehead, and the log itself, on Splash Mountain in Magic Kingdom and Tokyo Disneyland. In Tokyo Disneyland’s Splash Mountain, she designed the look of the main drop. It was part of a reward for Terri’s innovative thinking and fast pace. The Tokyo Splash Mountain project had fallen behind schedule, so Terri was brought on to give a helping hand. She created a new technique that could get the job done 10 times faster than before. So, she was given the task of designing the main drop. Consequently, Terri helped them meet the deadline. Captain EO The puppeteering for Idee and Odee, known as The Geex, in the 3D Disneyland and Walt Disney World film Captain EO. When the Supreme Leader, played by Anjelica Huston, was supposed to have been lifted into the air, Terri stood in as her stunt double. She was also the puppeteer for Hooter’s trunk when he was trying to reach the button. Muppet*Vision 3D In Jim Henson's Muppet*Vision 3D, she was the puppeteer for the It's a Small World dolls in the ensemble at the end of the film. That means there was more than one puppeteer huddled down underneath the characters. Many arms were involved. It is difficult to be specific about who did what with which dolls. When the animatronic penguins were installed in the orchestral section up front, they needed someone to do the puppeteering for them. Terri did the movements for the little, musical, flightless birds and the movements were recorded and then used for playback during the show. This attraction has been removed from California Adventure, but it can still be seen in all of its glory at Disney's Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World. La Tanière du Dragon In 1987, she completely headed up a project, which was surprising to her because it just didn’t happen often to women, when she worked on "The Dragon’s Lair" in Disneyland Paris. She was the sole Imagineer that created it. Terri intended to have the skeleton of Maleficent's Dragon in the lair because it was under the Sleeping Beauty Castle, but Disney didn't go for it. Big Thunder Mountain Railroad She also worked on designing Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Disneyland Paris. Pan Galactic Pizza Port In 1989, Pan Galactic Pizza Port in Tokyo Disneyland had animatronic puppets above the order queue that would talk and sort of perform a show. Terri was the one that puppeteered their movements. The theme was that the restaurant was built up around a giant pizza making machine, and Tony Solaroni was in charge of making the machine run smoothly. Star Tours The version in Tokyo Disneyland needed their own Admiral Ackbar for a 20 minute loop video that would play for the people in the queue. The Ackbar puppet was created by Terri and Lynette Eklund, and was puppeteered by both of them as well. Terri studied Japanese and was able to break down the dialogue so they could properly give Ackbar his facial expressions and movement. Body Wars Epcot had an attraction called Body Wars. It was a motion simulation attraction, much like Star Tours, that opened in 1989 and starred Elisabeth Shue. The plot of the attraction was to shrink guests down and send them into the human body via the bloodstream. Terri was responsible for making and puppeteering blood vessels and other body parts. Mickey Mouse In 2003, the first prototype interactive meet and greet Mickey Mouse was created and presented to Roy Disney for approval. This Mickey Mouse had a moving mouth, blinking eyes, and was able to talk. Terri controlled the face and mouth with remote controls that were connected to and carried around in a big trunk. When presented to Roy, Terri made Mickey Mouse say, “You need me!” and then blink his eyes. Roy loved it. The problem was that Mickey Mouse had to be connected to the big, heavy trunk. It wasn't until 2010 that we saw a functioning Mouse that could talk and blink, but only in the shows and parades. He became a meet and greet character in 2013, but has since been removed because he was too terrifying for small children, so they say. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror The Tower of Terror that was created for Disney's Hollywood Studios in Disney World, and later California Adventure, wasn't a hit from the start. The Imagineers had to pitch the idea and then get it approved before it could be put into production. They needed a photo to show off their new idea. So, they created a life sized model of the elevator car that the guests would sit in. Terri was brought in and sat in the car for the promo photo. Why her? Because of her hair. They pulled all of her locks upward to make it appear that she was falling. She threw her arms in the air, put on a big screaming grin, the photo was taken. Journey Into Imagination The Journey Into Imagination was a pavilion in EPCOT that opened in 1982. There was a cute little purple dragon added as an animatronic puppet in 1983. Terri had auditioned for the role of puppeteering and voicing Figment for the attraction. She ended up holding the spot of 3rd runner up as the role was given to Billy Barty. As of 2002, the role has been performed by Dave Goelz, he is Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf, and many more in The Muppets.

Foster Farms Terri designed and built the Foster Imposter Chickens for the Foster Farms commercials, and is the puppeteer for the passenger chicken, which is the smaller of the two. She started filming them in 1993 and has completed about 40 commercials so far. Rick Lazzarini designs all of the new chickens, including the walking ones, for recent commercials. McDonald's McDonald's came out with new battered Chicken McNuggets and started making commercials with the new McNuggets. Terri created the McNugget puppets and puppeteered them from 1982 to 1986. They are called stick puppets. There were so many commercials made with them that it is unknown exactly which commercials she worked on. Nissin Noodle Cups Going back to the early 1990s, the Jim Henson Workshop did a series of commercials for Nissin Noodle Cups. Terri was the puppeteer for the face of the caveman's son. The face was radio controlled.