Potential Muppet cameos and guest stars

Over the years, the Muppets have announced or developed cameos appearances for their feature films and episodes for their television shows that never came to fruition. Many of these camoes never went beyond the early development stages. This includes productions that Muppets characters were heavily involved in (Sesame Workshop, The Walt Disney Company, etc.).

Sesame Street (1969-)

• Steve Martin - Sesame Street writers created a sketch for Steve Martin about his feet expressing his emotions; Martin canceled, and was replaced by Jim Carrey.
• Natalie Cole - Cole was scheduled to appear on the show, singing her hit "Unforgettable" with Forgetful Jones. Last minute scheduling conflicts prevented the taping date and soon after, Richard Hunt passed away.
• Reba McEntire was scheduled to appear on Sesame Street during its 29th season. However, the song prepared for her appearance ("I'm Talkin' Love") was never filmed.
• Bette Davis was announced as a guest in the September 13, 1982 issue of The Times-Daily, in what would have been the show's 14th season. However, Sesame Workshop's database contains no record of a contract with Davis.

The Muppet Show (1976-1981)

• Tony Bennett - Bennett was proposed as a guest as early as March 1976, where he would sing "What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life" to Hilda.
• Gina Lollobrigida - On the DVD The Story of Mummenschanz, Bernie Schurz recalls that originally Gina Lollobrigida was planned as a guest star for season one. When she canceled, Jim Henson suggested Mummenschanz, whose performance he had seen in Geneva.
• Richard Pryor - In the 2002 documentary I Love Muppets, Chris Langham claims he was chosen to replace Pryor as a guest on The Muppet Show because Pryor "blew himself up freebasing."
• Robin Williams - In 1979, Williams was announced as a guest star on The Muppet Show in an issue of The Muppet Show Fan Club Newsletter; however, he did appear on the show.
• Cher - In 1979, Cher was announced as a guest star on The Muppet Show in an issue of The Muppet Show Fan Club Newsletter; however, she did not appear on the show.
• ABBA - Jim Henson wished to have the group guest star on The Muppet Show, but scheduling conflicts prevented their participation.
• Lionel Richie - Richie was scheduled to appear as a guest in 2001's The Muppet Show Live singing "Say You, Say Me." However, Richie was unable to participate in the show due to illness.
• Some propsed guests for the show's second season include Dolly Parton, Olivia Newton-John, Leslie Uggams (who would appear on the show's third season), Orson Welles, Paul Anka, Rex Harrison, Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, and Kris Kristofferson (who would appear on the show's third season).
• During the course of The Muppet Show, Jim Henson wrote out a list of dream guests-and urged the writers and puppeteers to do the same. Among those potential guests on Henson's list were Bil Baird, Shari Lewis, Burr Tillstrom, Stan Freburg, Mae West, Mia Farrow, Princess Anne, Kim Novak, and Katherine Hepburn. The dream line up assembled by the Muppet performers and writing staff included such stars such as Dustin Hoffman, David Bowie, Salvador Dali, Michael Caine, Robert DeNiro, Frank Zappa, Meryl Streep, the entire Monty Python troupe (though one of their members would eventually guest star), and The Beatles.

The Muppet Movie (1979)

• An early script called for a cameo by George Burns as a local bait shop owner outside Kermit' swamp which never came to fruition.
• An early script called for a cameo by Henry Kissinger as an aspiring actor which never came to fruition.

The Great Muppet Caper (1981)

• While Jack Warden was Jim Henson's first choice for the role of Mike Tarkanian, other actors Henson considered for the part included Jim Backus, Tom Bosley, Jackie Cooper, Hume Cronyn, David Doyle, Charles Durning, Broderick Crawford, Ed Asner, Martin Balsam, Harvey Korman, Walter Matthau, Jack Klugman, Jack Lemmon, and Lionel Stander.

The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

• A cameo for Dustin Hoffman as a Broadway producer that was an imitation of legendary film producer Robert Evans (The Godfather) was written, but Hoffman decided not to do it at the last minute because it would be offensive to Evans. He would later do an imitation of Evans in the 1997 film Wag the Dog.

Muppets Tonight (1996-1998)

• Rosie O'Donnell - In a cold opening sketch aired in the summer of 1996, O'Donnell attempted to court Miss Piggy via telephone into being a guest on her new daytime talk show. O'Donnell suceeded by reminding Piggy that she was already scheduled to appear on Miss Piggy's current show Muppets Tonight. However, the series was cancelled before O'Donnell could ever appear. O'Donnell also mentions that she's going to be on Muppets Tonight when Miss Piggy hosted The Rosie O'Donnell Show.

It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)

• Snoop Dog filmed a celebrity cameo scene for the telefilm, however the scene was removed from the final cut of the 2002 telefilm by The Jim Henson Company and NBC. It was also absent from the DVD release which included other deleted scenes.
• Steve Irwin was originally slated to appear as himself hunting Fozzie Bear. Last minute changes in Irwin's schedule prevented his appearance, so a lookalike parody of Irwin was used instead.

A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008)

• Stanley Tucci was originally meant to play Frank Meany, but had to drop out due to a last minute family emergency. Nathan Lane was able to fill in at the last minute.

The Muppets (2011)

• Early drafts of the screenplay included celebrity camoes by Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Christian Bale, Ben Stiller, Steve Carrell, George Clooney, Mel Brooks, Matt Damon, Anne Hathaway, Rachel Ray, Bob Saget, Lisa Lampanelli, Jeff Ross, and Charles Grodin.
• Rob Corddry, Billy Crystal, Ricky Gervais, Kathy Griffin, Sarah Hyland, Sterling Knight, Wanda Sykes, and Dany Trejo filmed camoes, however their scenes were cut from the final film. These deleted scenes were all included in the bonus features on the film's Blu-ray release.
• Additional celebrities were reported to have filmed camoes for the movie, including Liza Minnelli and French Stewart (playing a watch salesman named Gabe Lou).
• One version of the screenplay included a cameo by Lady Gaga, however she did not appear in the film.
• A cameo appearance of the character Nicky Holiday from The Great Muppet Caper was written in an early draft of The Muppets, but Charles Grodin declined to appear in the movie.
• Elmo was originally proposed as a celebrity host for the Muppets' telethon, however legalities prevented such a cameo as it would've been too expensive.

Muppets Most Wanted (2014)

• Bridget Mendler, Debby Ryan, Peter Serafinowicz, Jake Short, and Tyrel Jackson Williams filmed camoes, however their scenes were cut from the final film. These deleted camoes were included in the "Unecessarily Extended Cut" included on the film's Blu-ray release.

References

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