Mr. Hooper was a character on Sesame Street who was the original proprietor of Mr. Hooper's Store (which still retains his name). When the actor who played him, Will Lee, died in 1982, rather than replace him with another actor the character was also killed off. Sesame Street devoted an episode to Big Bird's acceptance of his death and his understanding of what death means. A portrait of Mr. Hooper that Big Bird had been about to give him still hangs in Big Bird's nest.
