Born in
Dallas, Texas but raised in
Vicksburg, Michigan, Thurman received a degree from the
University of Michigan. He began his career as a copywriter at various advertising agencies in
Los Angeles, and
San Francisco. Later he moved to
Los Angeles with his writing partner Gene Moss, where they formed a boutique advertising agency, "Creative Advertising Stuff". Moss and Thurman scripted all 156 installments of the 1965 cartoon series
Roger Ramjet as well as the puppet comedy series
Shrimpenstein, where Thurman voiced the title character for satirical children's television program. In 1967 Thurman teamed up with
Carol Burnett to begin writing gags for
The Carol Burnett Show, scripting running gags and writing whole scenes. In 1969, Thurman joined the writing team for
Sesame Street, scripting both street and Muppet scenes as well as producing many animated sketches. He also played Digby Dropout's sidekick "Dunce" in
The Man from Alphabet, a detective show which appeared in
Sesame Streets pilots but was not used in the actual series due to poor testing results. In 1972, Thurman teamed up with
Bob Newhart to begin writing gags for
The Bob Newhart Show, scripting both therapy and regular scenes. One year later in 1973 Thurman did the voice of Christopher Clumsy for a Cliff Roberts-produced cartoon about shapes as well as Jake the Snake in 1988 (also for
Sesame Street). In 1977 Jim worked as a consultant for Warner Cable's innovation Qube system in Columbus, Ohio. He was on the creative team for the interactive "Columbus Alive" news magazine program. In 1982, Thurman teamed up with
Paul Fierlinger to create, write, and voice
Teeny Little Super Guy for
Sesame Street. He also wrote sketches for
Jim Henson's
The Muppet Show in the
fourth season. Thurman subsequently worked on most of
CTW's other series, as a staff writer and cartoon voiceover on
The Electric Company and
3-2-1 Contact,
Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids, and as head writer/senior producer for
Square One TV; on the later series, he provided the voice of Mr. Glitch and the off-screen announcer for
Mathman, scripted the
Mathnet segments, and
Dirk Niblick of the Math Brigade. Thurman co-created the
Math Talk package with Dave Connell, as senior producer. Thurman also wrote for
Muppet Babies. In recent years Jim continued to write, do voice work, and also wrote a weekly column for his local paper, the Berkshire Record. Thurman also wrote and voiced several animated sexual education specials for Buzzco Associates, Inc. He has also done voice work for home video releases such as the
Richard Scarry Learning videos and the
Dr. Seuss Beginner Book Video series. In 1994-95, Thurman voiced the worm and wrote a few Dr. Seuss stories in
Playtoons series. In 2006, he wrote wraparound material and voiced Bob for the
Old School Volume 1 DVD. Also in 2006, he wrote
Books by You. In 2007, he last voiced
SingStar POP Bundle on April 3 (so you can use your microphone). He died in
Sheffield, Massachusetts after a brief illness on April 14, 2007, one month after his 72nd birthday. == Filmography ==