Allan Trautman

Allan Trautman

Allan Trautman is an American performer whose career has woven together theatrical training, puppetry and creature work across stage, film, television and theme-park attractions. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Trautman trained as an actor and pursued higher education that combined scientific and dramatic study before completing graduate-level acting training at a California arts school. Early stage work included summers with a regional Shakespeare festival, and his first professional puppetry work came while he was still a student.

Trautman moved into full-time work in Los Angeles, working with a variety of family-entertainment and puppetry workshops and productions. During the late 1980s and 1990s he began contributing to high-profile, effects-driven projects: he performed in films that mixed live-action and puppetry, and he began a long association with Jim Henson’s teams and projects. That relationship included performing for an attraction created for Disney parks and contributing to animatronic and digital-performance efforts developed by Henson’s Creature Shop and related studios.

Within genre cinema Trautman is best known for originating a memorable undead character Tarman in the mid-1980s horror film Return of the Living Dead, the movie blended horror and comedy. He has returned to that character in later franchise installments, and the role remains one of his most recognizable horror credits in fan and genre contexts. Beyond that signature performance, his screen work spans additional feature and television credits where he has performed as a puppeteer, suit performer and supporting performer in both family and adult-oriented productions.

Trautman’s work with Henson-related ensembles has also included live improvisational puppetry, appearing in alternative puppet improv shows that have toured and performed internationally. In addition to performing, he has been involved in teaching improvisation at the college level and has worked on animatronic and digital-performance projects behind the scenes.

Over several decades Trautman’s career has remained rooted in performance craft: combining stage acting, puppetry and creature effects. His work ranges from early educational television puppetry to theme-park attractions, from practical creature performance in horror and fantasy films to improvisational live puppet shows. That breadth places him among a cohort of performers who move fluidly between visible roles on screen and deliberate, technical contributions to animatronics and puppet-based production.

Notable horror and genre credits include:

• Return of the Living Dead — originated the Tarman zombie character in the mid-1980s film.
• Return of the Living Dead Part II — reprised the Tarman in a later franchise installment.
• Return of the Living Dead Rave to the Grave (2005) — Tarman Zombie.
• Work with Jim Henson’s Creature Shop and Henson productions on animatronic and puppetry projects, including contributions to attraction and film projects from the 1990s onward.

Trautman’s career continues to be defined by a blend of performance and technical work in puppetry and creature effects, and by contributions to both family entertainment and genre filmmaking.