Steve Whitmire



Steve Whitmire (b. September 24, 1959) is a Muppeteer who has been working for the Jim Henson Company since 1978. His career with the Muppets began on The Muppet Show, where he developed his first major character, Rizzo the Rat. Other main characters included Bean Bunny and, on Fraggle Rock, Wembley Fraggle and Sprocket. When Jim Henson passed away in 1990, Whitmire was selected to take over the roles of Kermit the Frog and Ernie. Following Richard Hunt's death and Jerry Nelson's retirement, he took over the roles of Beaker and Statler, respectively. His wife, Melissa Whitmire, has also puppeteered on occasion.

Early Years
Born near Atlanta, Georgia, Steve Whitmire became interested in puppetry in his childhood, around the time that Sesame Street began airing in 1969. Whitmire recalled, "I wrote a letter to Jim Henson at the time, and he wrote back. It's an amazing thing for a ten-year-old to get a letter back from a TV star." Building on that early enthusiasm, Whitmire created his own puppets and performed throughout high school, even winning the school talent show on one occasion. After graduating high school, he briefly puppeteered at local theme park The World of Sid and Marty Krofft, and later cohosted The Kid's Show with his best friend Gary Koepke for WATL in Atlanta, which was nominated for a state Emmy Award.

Whitmire first made contact with the Muppets through Caroll Spinney, whom he met at the Southeastern Regional Puppetry Festival in 1977. That fall, Spinney informed Whitmire that auditions were being held for puppeteers for Sesame Street; upon calling the Henson offices, Whitmire learned that Jane Henson was coming to Atlanta the following week to inspect the Kermit balloon for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and that she could meet with him while there. After seeing Whitmire perform, she recommended him to Jim Henson, who eventually formally auditioned him and asked him to join the performers on The Muppet Show. His first day of performing was March 24, 1978.

From Right-Handing to Regular
Whitmire slowly became a major performer. On The Muppet Show, he often performed one-shot characters, right hands, and filled in when two of another performer's characters were in the same scene (for example, if Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy were in a scene together, Whitmire would generally perform Fozzie). He was given his own recurring characters, such as Foo-Foo, Rizzo the Rat, and Lips, all of whom were minor characters on The Muppet Show, with very little dialogue.

Whitmire became one of the core Muppet performers since performing on The Muppet Show, and received his own major characters on Fraggle Rock, where he performed Sprocket and Wembley Fraggle, and the semi-recurring role of Marlon Fraggle. He would also add more characters to his repertoire over the years, performing many roles on The Jim Henson Hour, and Rizzo the Rat would slowly become a more significant part of the main cast.

The 1980s
Following the end of The Muppet Show, Whitmire continued to work within the Henson fold. He performed the Skeksis Scientist in The Dark Crystal, and was the only Muppeteer who both puppeteered and voiced his character. (Jerry Nelson also did vocal work on the movie, but did not puppeteer.) Whitmire commented on this: "Jim Henson and Frank Oz had people submit tapes of what they thought a Skeksis would sound like, and it just so happened that the voice I did was exactly what they had in mind. So I just happened to get lucky and get a voice that worked with no particular effort... It just happened to be the one that was the right one."

Whitmire also puppeteered for the 1986 Henson film Labyrinth, and performed in the television special The Christmas Toy, as both puppeteer and voice of Mew.

In The Tale of the Bunny Picnic, he performed the special's protagonist, Bean Bunny. Bean Bunny would soon go on to become a main character, starting with The Jim Henson Hour, for which Whitmire also performed a variety of other characters, including Flash and Waldo C. Graphic. He also appeared on-screen as himself in The Secrets of the Muppets.

Television Work in the 1990s
Whitmire performed many characters on Dinosaurs, most notably B.P. Richfield and the face of Robbie Sinclair (with voices later looped over) and was also heard as various one-shot hand puppet characters, such as Mr. Mason Dixon. Following the end of the series in 1994, he was paired with Dave Goelz as the title duo on Jim Henson's Animal Show with Stinky and Jake, playing Jake and various other characters.

In addition to reprising Kermit, Rizzo, and Beaker on Muppets Tonight, Whitmire also performed the regular roles of Andy Pig and Mr. Poodlepants.

Continuing Kermit and Others
He took on the role of Kermit the Frog after the death of Jim Henson, starting in The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson. Although The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson was his first on-screen performance as Kermit, he considers The Muppet Christmas Carol to be his first real production as Kermit.

Sometime after Jim Henson's death, Steve Whitmire had been told that there was consideration for him to perform Kermit even before his death: "I have been told that Jim had said something about it to Frank. Not that I would perform Kermit when he died, but that he would need somebody else to do Kermit some of the time because he was so busy. He never said that to me, but I heard that through somebody that it had been talked about. Just that the two of them were so busy, that they may need to have to find stand-ins for their characters, so I guess it had been mentioned, but the actual time I was asked was by Brian. We were in Disney World for something. I'm not sure exactly what it was, but I think it was the big tribute they did for Jim, and we went down for that. While we were there, one night I went over and met with Jane Henson, Brian, and Frank, and Brian mentioned me doing it. I was just overwhelmed by the request. It was a huge honor, and it also just scared the daylights out of me, the thought of trying it."

When it was decided that Steve Whitmire would take over the role of Kermit, Heather Henson arranged for a Kermit puppet to be sent to Atlanta for Whitmire to practice performing. Whitmire thought that the puppet smelled like Jim Henson, and although he put the puppet on once, he couldn't get himself to go near it and try out a voice for months. Eventually, Brian Henson called and asked him to do something with Kermit, record it on tape, and send it to him, so Whitmire performed Kermit singing "Bein' Green."

Regarding his first performance as Kermit, Whitmire has said: "When we did the special, I always had this fantasy that the first time I performed Kermit it would be a nice, dark little moment in the studio and it would be 5 or 6 of the main guys... It would be real gentle and easy to do. What it turned out to be was that the closing scene of that special had about 50 puppets in it. So it was basically every puppeteer I've ever worked with in New York City, which was probably 25-30 people."

One of the hardest things that Steve Whitmire had to do in The Muppet Christmas Carol was pre-record Kermit's voice for all of the songs first. As he said in his Muppet Central interview, "I went to London for the start of Christmas Carol, and they already started working on the music a couple days before I got there. We pre-recorded all of the songs before we did the movie, so the first thing I was going to have to do was go in to record Kermit's voice, which I was super-nervous about, because I didn't have the puppet to rely on. There was something about seeing the puppet as one was hearing my voice, at that stage, that made it more believable, and it got people into it. If I just walked in and did Kermit's voice, they didn't buy it neccessarily. They were still hearing Jim. If I had the puppet on, it was more believable."

After Richard Hunt's death, he took over as Beaker. In an interview with Muppet Central, he discussed this new role:

"I think it was Dave's [Goelz's] idea that I do Beaker. They asked Dave, "Who do you think should do Beaker?" and he suggested me because we like to work together, and we work well together. Beaker was difficult because I had no clue where it came from in Richard. I didn't know at all how Richard did this. It was really just a matter of being silly with Dave. The truth is, I still don't know where it came from. I just don't know what part of Richard it came from... What facet of his personality. I don't relate to the character the way that Richard did, so really, with Beaker, I'm doing an awful lot of just copying Richard. I wouldn't say that I've got a good handle on that character, but it's fun. It's a fun character."

Although Jim Henson had originally auditioned him for Sesame Street, Whitmire would not perform on the series until 1993, when it was decided to permanently recast Ernie. His first performance as Ernie was in Sesame Street Stays Up Late, and he slowly performed Ernie on a more regular basis. Although John Tartaglia performed the role in the second season of Play With Me Sesame, Whitmire continues to perform Ernie to this day. According to Whitmire, "[Performing Ernie] came about because they were looking for someone to do the voice for toys. I asked if I could audition for it. I did vocal recordings for Ernie toys for 2-3 years... A lot of them. When it came time to recast the character, I ended up doing it."

Although he has regularly performed Ernie on Sesame Street, and though he has performed Kermit since 1990, Whitmire has rarely performed any new Sesame Street material with Kermit the Frog. Among Whitmire's few Sesame Street performances as Kermit include a sketch where Kermit teaches Grover the difference between light and dark, Kermit reporting on Slimey landing on the moon, and reporting on the hurricane that hit Sesame Street. Whitmire did, however, perform Kermit in the Sesame Street specials Elmopalooza, Elmo Saves Christmas, Cinderelmo, and the direct-to-video The Best of Kermit on Sesame Street.

In the early 2000s, he started performing Statler, beginning with the Weezer music video "Keep Fishin'." Whitmire puppeteered him in It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie while Jerry Nelson looped the voice later; one line, "Historical landmark," remained un-looped, so his Statler voice was heard in the movie. Following Nelson's retirement, Steve Whitmire took over the role of Statler (with the notable exception of Statler and Waldorf: From the Balcony, where after episode 8, Drew Massey took over).

In 2008, new Muppet video content was added to Disney Extreme Digital. In addition to reprising the roles of Kermit and Rizzo, Steve Whitmire also took over as The Newsman.

Steve Whitmire and Dave Goelz
As acknowledged by Whitmire in interviews, he and Dave Goelz work very well together. The aforementioned Bunsen and Beaker pairing was not the only time the two would work together as a team. On Fraggle Rock, Whitmire's Wembley often found himself paired off with Goelz as Boober, and they played Mew and Rugby respectively in The Christmas Toy.

Gonzo and Rizzo have become an almost inseparable team over the years, beginning with The Muppet Christmas Carol. In the same film, Goelz and Whitmire were paired as Betina and Belinda Cratchit, doing variations of Frank Oz's Miss Piggy.

On Muppets Tonight, the two remained paired as Piggy's nephews, Andy and Randy Pig. Whitmire took over the role of Beaker, playing off Goelz's Bunsen. Whitmire also recently took over the role of Statler, playing off Waldorf, whom Dave Goelz has performed since 1992, and during the 1990s, the two performed the duo Jake and Stinky on The Animal Show.

Puppeteer Credits

 * The Muppet Show Characters: Billy Boy, Foo-Foo, Geri and the Atrics tuba player, Jabberwock, Lips, Pinocchio, Rizzo the Rat, Rowlf the Dog (occasional, hands only), Security Guard, The Snorers' Chorus member, Thog (episode 502), Timmy Monster (occasional, voice in episode 423), Trevor the Gross, The White Rabbit, Winky Pinkerton (episode 308), Zeke (1979-1981)
 * The Dark Crystal: Skeksis Scientist
 * Fraggle Rock: Wembley Fraggle, Sprocket, Marlon Fraggle, Murray the Minstrel (except episode 512),  Flange Doozer, Crusty Doozer, Flying Batworm, Mermer Merggle, Papa Tree Creature (Gorg Bird), Phil Fraggle (puppeteer only), Sir Blunderbrain, Venerable Sage Hambo
 * The Muppets Take Manhattan: Gil, Rizzo the Rat
 * Dreamchild: The Caterpillar, The Mock Turtle (puppetry only)
 * Labyrinth: Ambrosius, Fiery 4, one of The Four Guards (puppetry only)
 * The Christmas Toy: Mew
 * A Muppet Family Christmas: The Christmas Turkey, Wembley, Sprocket, Rizzo the Rat, Foo-Foo, Lips
 * The Tale of the Bunny Picnic: Bean Bunny
 * Inner Tube: Henry, Duke
 * The Jim Henson Hour: Flash, Jacques Roach, Waldo C. Graphic, Yellow Extreme, Bean Bunny, Foo-Foo
 * The Muppets at Walt Disney World: Bean Bunny, Rizzo the Rat, Foo-Foo, Sprocket, Lips
 * Muppet*Vision 3D: Bean Bunny, Rizzo the Rat, and Waldo C. Graphic
 * Muppet Classic Theatre: Rizzo the Rat, Kermit the Frog
 * Muppets on Wheels: Kermit the Frog
 * Things That Fly: Kermit the Frog
 * Dinosaurs: B.P. Richfield (puppet), Robbie Sinclair (face), Chief Elder (face), Mr. Mason Dixon, Sonny, Woody, Blarney, Judge H.T. Stone (puppet)
 * The Muppet Christmas Carol: Belinda Cratchit, Laundress, Kermit the Frog, Bean Bunny, Rizzo the Rat, Beaker, Sprocket
 * Sesame Street Ernie (1993-), Dr. Feel, several Elmo's World characters
 * Muppet Meeting Films: Flunky
 * Jim Henson's The Animal Show with Stinky and Jake: Jake
 * Elmo Saves Christmas: Kermit the Frog
 * Mr. Willowby's Christmas Tree: Kermit the Frog
 * Sesame Street Stays Up Late: Ernie
 * Muppet Treasure Island: Walleye Pike, Rizzo the Rat, Kermit the Frog, Beaker
 * Muppets Tonight: Andy Pig, Captain Pighead, Eugene, Lash Holstein, Miss Weatherington, Mr. Poodlepants, Kermit the Frog, Beaker,
 * Cinderelmo: Prince the Dog, Ernie, Kermit the Frog
 * The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland: Bad Humor Man, Stuckweed, Football Stenchman, Ernie
 * Muppets From Space: Cosmic Fish, Bean Bunny, Rizzo the Rat, Kermit the Frog, Beaker, Beach Hippie
 * Kermit's Swamp Years: Jack Rabbit, Kermit the Frog, Young Kermit, and Chico
 * It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie: Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, Beaker
 * The Muppets' Wizard of Oz: Kermit the Frog, Statler, Bean Bunny, Beaker, Rizzo the Rat
 * From the Balcony: Statler
 * Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium: Kermit the Frog
 * Disney Extreme Digital: Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, The Newsman

Trivia

 * Was nicknamed Kermit in his youth because he aspired to become a puppeteer and even performed with a Kermit which he made. His high school yearbook even has the name "Kermit" on the front cover.


 * Shares the same birthday (September 24) as Jim Henson.


 * At one of his last meetings with Jim Henson, Henson commented to Whitmire that although he was a main Muppet performer, he didn't really have any main Muppet characters besides Rizzo and Bean Bunny, and told him that he was going to try to create a new main character for Whitmire to perform.


 * Steve Whitmire's favorite Muppet movie is The Muppet Movie.


 * A quote from the Muppet Central interview with Steve Whitmire: "I designed the little mechanism inside of [Rizzo] that makes his mouth move."