The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History received costumes worn by the seven main cast members of the 12-season television show, The Big Bang Theory. The news was announced by cast members on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Thursday, May 16. The Warner Bros. Television (WBTV) costume donation includes those worn by characters Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons), Leonard Hofstadter (Johnny Galecki), Penny (Kaley Cuoco), Howard Wolowitz (Simon Helberg), Raj Koothrappali (Kunal Nayyar), Amy Farrah Fowler (Mayim Bialik) and Bernadette Rostenkowski-Wolowitz (Melissa Rauch). Created by Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady, The Big Bang Theory is executive produced by Lorre, Prady, Steve Holland, Steven Molaro, Dave Goetsch, Eric Kaplan and Maria Ferrari.
The items will join thousands of artifacts in the museum’s popular entertainment collections and help tell the story of groundbreaking work in American television.
WBTV’s The Big Bang Theory debuted in 2007, and the final episode aired Thursday, May 16, with a record-breaking 279 episodes, signing off as the longest-running multicamera comedy in TV history. Still airing in syndication, the series has won a number of prestigious television awards and unique honors.
Included in Warner Bros. Television’s donation are full costumes worn by the seven primary characters, from the series costume designer Mary Quigley. Among the costume pieces are Sheldon’s iconic “Flash” t-shirt, Leonard’s “recycle” t-shirt and hooded cargo jacket, Penny’s pink tank top and Ugg boots, Howard’s plaid shirt and red turtleneck, Raj’s sweater vest and jacket, Bernadette’s yellow cardigan and floral dress and Amy’s brown wool sweater and green, knee-length skirt.
To view artifacts from other iconic American television series, visit the National Museum of American History’s popular culture collection including the portrait of Stephen Colbert from The Colbert Report. There are no current plans for display.
Photo credit: Warner Bros. Television