Miss Piggy

Miss Piggy is a puppet character best known as one of the stars of The Muppets, a popular ensemble of puppets with a long list of film and television credits dating back to the mid-1950s. A member of the Muppets since 1974, Miss Piggy is a stardom-obsessed prima donna with a diva personality and a knack for karate. She also famously had a long-term, on-again-off-again romantic relationship with Kermit the Frog, the perennial leader of the Muppets troupe. After several early appearances on various Muppet specials, Miss Piggy rose to fame as a regular character on The Muppet Show (1976) and quickly became one of the group’s most beloved personalities. Assuming a role as one of the franchise’s leading characters from that point on, she starred alongside Kermit and the other Muppets in film projects like The Muppet Movie (1979) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014), in additional live-action television shows such as The Muppets (2015), and even in animated form on Muppet Babies (1984).

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Background

Miss Piggy is one of many puppets making up The Muppets ensemble created by puppeteer and film and television producer Jim Henson. Henson was interested in puppetry from his earliest days. When he was in high school, he landed a job as a puppeteer at a Washington, DC, television station. After attending the University of Maryland in the 1950s, Henson created Sam and Friends, a short daily television show featuring an array of his earliest puppets. He referred to these puppets as Muppets. In short order, Sam and Friends generated enough of a cult following that Henson and the Muppets soon found themselves making guest appearances on popular national variety shows, such as the Ed Sullivan Show (1948). In addition to these appearances, the Muppets also started appearing in popular television commercials for Wilkins Coffee and many other products. All of this ultimately made Henson and the Muppets household names from coast to coast. In 1969, Henson partnered with Jerry Juhl, Frank Oz, and several other puppeteers to create an educational children’s television show starring the Muppets called Sesame Street. Led by an array of kid-friendly Muppets like Kermit the Frog, Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch, Sesame Street was an instant hit with both children and their parents that forever changed the nature of children’s television.

While Sesame Street alone was enough to ensure his legacy as one of the greatest puppeteers in history, Henson was keen to demonstrate to the world that the Muppets were for everyone, not just kids. To that end, he set out to produce a show that would be entertaining for audiences of all ages. With the help of British television producer Lord Lew Grade, Henson launched The Muppet Show in 1976. Helmed by Kermit, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and, among others, Miss Piggy, The Muppet Show was such a success it turned the Muppets into a top entertainment franchise virtually overnight. The success of The Muppet Showsubsequently led to a host of further television shows and movies in the years that followed. Although Henson died in 1990 after a brief illness, the Muppets lived on and continued his legacy for decades to come.

Overview

Miss Piggy is one of the top stars of the Muppets troupe. Although she is known for her grace and charm, Miss Piggy is the epitome of a wannabe Hollywood starlet whose personality is often defined by her overwhelming hunger for fame. At the same time, she is also frequently regarded as a feminist icon of sorts who is not afraid to stand up for herself when necessary. In fact, Miss Piggy can dish it out as well as she can take it, often aggressively karate-chopping anyone who dares to get in her way. Over the years, Miss Piggy has evolved to become a particularly dynamic Muppet character whose diva attitude and hilarious antics earned her legions of fans the world over.

The highly articulated pig puppet that would eventually be known as Miss Piggy was originally created by Henson Muppet designer Bonnie Erickson. The first unnamed version of the puppet debuted on the 1974 Herb Albert television special Herb Alpert and the TJB. She subsequently appeared again in a sketch that was part of a 1975 pilot special called The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence. When The Muppet Show began its run the following year, the pig puppet was a minor character, first seen as part of the show-within-the-show’s chorus. By that point, she was dubbed Piggy Lee in honor of singer Peggy Lee. However, as the character’s presence on the show grew, Henson and company decided to rename her Miss Piggy to avoid a potential lawsuit from the notoriously litigious Lee. During her time on The Muppet Show, Miss Piggy emerged as one of the group’s most popular stars, thanks in no small part to her regular appearances in recurring sketches like “Pigs in Space” and “Veterinarian’s Hospital.” She later went on to enjoy starring roles in The Muppet Movie and a string of other subsequent Muppet feature films, not to mention an array of other Muppet television shows and specials.

Several different Muppet performers have brought Miss Piggy to life over the years. Her primary performer on The Muppet Show and for most other appearances until 2002 was legendary Henson puppeteer Frank Oz. He first performed as Miss Piggy on 1974 appearance on The Tonight Show. During Oz’s tenure, other performers occasionally performed the character as needed. For example, Richard Hunt sometimes performed as Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show. Jerry Nelson, Fran Brill, Kevin Clash, Peter Linz, and Victor Yerrid also played the character at times. Voice actress Laurie O’Brien provided the voice of Miss Piggy on Muppet Babies, while Hal Rayle provided her voice on Little Muppet Monsters (1985). Starting in 2002, puppeteer Eric Jacobson took over duties as Miss Piggy’s full-time performer.

Miss Piggy’s cultural contributions extend well beyond her work with the Muppets. She has authored several books, including a best-selling 1981 self-help book entitled Miss Piggy’s Guide to Life and a 1996 cookbook called In the Kitchen with Miss Piggy: Fabulous Recipes from My Famous Celebrity Friends by Moi. She also notably received a Sackler Center First Award from the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum in 2015.

Bibliography

Abrams, Steve, Cheryl Henson, Nina Goldman, and Karen Falk. “Jim Henson.” World Encyclopedia of Puppetry Arts, 2020, wepa.unima.org/en/jim-henson. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.

Arnell, Stephen. “The Muppets Turbulent History of the Muppets.” Digital Spy, 9 July 2019, www.digitalspy.com/tv/a28934605/muppets-history-rights. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.

Carlson, Jen. “Video: Meet the Woman Who Created Your Favorite Muppets.” Gothamist, 9 Mar. 2016, gothamist.com/arts-entertainment/video-meet-the-woman-who-created-your-favorite-muppets. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.

Gelbart, Bryn. “A Complete Timeline of Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy's On-and-Off Relationship.” Insider, 14 Dec. 2018, www.insider.com/miss-piggy-and-kermit-relationship-timeline-2018-12. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.

Gupta, Anika. “The Woman Behind Miss Piggy.” Smithsonian Magazine, Oct. 2008, www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-woman-behind-miss-piggy-11290861. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.

Libbey, Dirk. “Why Miss Piggy Has Always Worn Pearls.” CinemaBlend, 4 May 2020, www.cinemablend.com/news/2495601/Why-Miss-Piggy-Has-Always-Worn-Pearls. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.

“Our Founders.” The Jim Henson Company, 2020, www.henson.com/our-founders.php. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.

Willet, Claire. “I Owe Everything to Miss Piggy, a Size-Positive Icon Ahead of Her Time.” Vice, 19 Feb. 2019, www.vice.com/en/article/gyadw3/miss-piggy-size-gender-positive-icon. Accessed 18 Aug. 2021.