Miss Piggy Through the Years (2024)

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Miss Piggy Through the Years (1)

The Tonight Show
(1974)The original Miss Piggy puppet here is the same one that would be used on the first season of The Muppet Show. She wears a silver silk gown with pearls and gloves. Blue cloth is attached to her gloves, possibly to hide the rods connected to her arms. Jim Henson refers to her as "Piggy Lee."

Miss Piggy Through the Years (2)

Herb Alpert and the TJB
(1974)The same puppet appears with Hoggie Marsh, who also introduces her as Piggy Lee, the girl who he discovered while waiting at a train station.

Miss Piggy Through the Years (3)

The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence
(1975)Piggy is more of a generic pig in the Muppet Show pilot. She has beady eyes and possesses hooves instead of hands.[1]

Miss Piggy Through the Years (4)

The Muppet Show
Season 1
(1976-1977)Her beady eyes are replaced by large blue eyes with lashes and eyelids. She is commonly seen wearing the same apparel she wore in her variety show appearances.

Miss Piggy Through the Years (5)

The Muppet Show
Season 2
(1977-1978)Her head has a new shape, with a much shorter snout. Her eyes also change and are larger in comparison to her new smaller head. In the second half of season two, her tongue changes from red to pink.

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Miss Piggy Through the Years (7)

The Muppet Show
Season 3
(1978-1979)Miss Piggy's head has been entirely resculpted and flocked for the first time: it is a bit taller, with her snout on a strong downward angle. Her eyes are a little bigger and her hair is updated to a much more realistic, less tangled-up look.

She sports a larger variety of new costumes, slowly phasing out her previously standard silver dress.

Even though the first foam latex Miss Piggy was introduced in The Muppet Movie, one of the first foam latex versions could apparently have appeared part way through this season on the show as well.[2]

Miss Piggy Through the Years (8)

The Muppet Movie
(1979)Her eyes change once again, getting fuller lashes. Her hair becomes a bit longer, sometimes with curls. Her head is resculpted yet again, her nostrils are darkened slightly, and her skin has more of a pink hue. This movie was the first time a foam latex Miss Piggy was used.

Miss Piggy Through the Years (9)

The Muppet Show
Season 4
(1979-1980)Miss Piggy's head is resculpted yet again, sporting a larger snout. The shape of her eyes is different than in The Muppet Movie. Her hair is fuller.

Miss Piggy Through the Years (10)

The Muppet Show
Season 4/5
(1980-1981)Piggy has a different head shape, her eyes are repositioned, and she has a lighter skin color. Different hairstyles and more outlandish costumes become more common through the final two seasons of The Muppet Show. Her hair reaches its longest stage. During certain scenes in season 5, the puppet's tongue is missing.

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The Great Muppet Caper
(1981)Piggy's head shape is slightly updated and her hair is mostly a darker blonde than on The Muppet Show. Several full body and "stunt" Piggy puppets appear throughout the movie, with various design differences.

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The Muppets Take Manhattan
(1984)Piggy begins to sport a perm. She gets larger, her head is reshaped, and her eyes change position slightly.

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A Muppet Family Christmas
(1987)Piggy still has the perm.

Miss Piggy Through the Years (14)

National Wildlife Federation PSA
(1989)Piggy sports the short, straight do for the first time. The perm reappears only sporadically, such as in The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, though promotional material shows the straight do.

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The Disney Christmas Special
(1989)An entirely unique, much skinnier head was used for Piggy's appearance on The Disney Christmas Special, which aired in the UK. Her eyes were oddly placed, drooping downward for this appearance, and her appearance on The 1989 Emmy Awards only.

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Various appearances until the mid-1990s
(1996)Piggy's head shape is back to something more familiar. Her hair varies in length but stays mostly short and straight throughout the early to mid-1990s.

Miss Piggy Through the Years (17)

Muppets Tonight
(1997)Piggy's hair stays shorter, and even though the perm is back, it often stays more wavy rather than tightly curled throughout the run of the show. Her eyes have been re-adjusted to focus slightly outward and up, rather than forward, for most of her appearances on the show. The same can be seen during an earlier appearance at the 1996 Academy Awards.

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Muppets from Space
(1999)Piggy's hair is still short, but straight again. Her eyes are moved closer together again.

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It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie
(2002)A few different Piggy puppets pop up around this time, one with obviously larger eyes (not shown). Piggy also begins wearing a flipped up shorter hairdo (not shown).

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The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
(2005)Miss Piggy sports a shorter hairstyle. Also in the movie, she has long black curls, white hair, and brown hair.

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Premiere of The Muppets' Wizard of Oz
(2005)Piggy has brown hair.

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America's Funniest Home Videos
(2005)Miss Piggy's hair is back to being long and blonde.

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The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson
(2007)Piggy goes back to curly hair. Occasionally, a puppet head with a shorter/tighter snout is used.

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A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa
(2008)Miss Piggy gets a rounder, fatter head. Her hair is changed to a whiter blonde and bangs are added. She begins sporting longer, fuller eyelashes.

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Disney Xtreme Digital
(2008-2010)Miss Piggy's head remains round and fat, but her hair is short and looks layered. It is also flipped up at the end, and she still has bangs. There are also many photos of a curly haired Miss Piggy on Disney Xtreme Digital (not shown).

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The Muppets
(2011-present)Miss Piggy's head is modified with light blonde hair; commonly either long and curled, or short and straight with bangs.Alternate Piggy Puppets

Miss Piggy Through the Years (27)

Disney's Honorary VoluntEars Cavalcade
(2010 only)A slightly larger "weatherproof" version of Piggy, covered in fleece skin (rather than flocked), with a glued-on wig and thicker, sturdier eyelashes was built for Disney's Honorary VoluntEars Cavalcade parade that ran in early 2010.

The puppet was later re-used for special sing-along performances at the El Capitan Theatre, preceding screenings of The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted.

Miss Piggy Through the Years (2024)

FAQs

Who played Miss Piggy originally? ›

Biography. Miss Piggy is a Muppet character who was primarily played by Frank Oz on The Muppet Show. In 2001, Eric Jacobson began performing the role, although Oz did not officially retire until 2002.

What is the history of Miss Piggy? ›

Miss Piggy is a diva pig who believes she is a superstar. She is madly in love with Kermit the Frog and is an expert in karate. Miss Piggy began as “Piggy Lee” on The Tonight Show in 1974 and eventually the “Lee” was dropped so as not to upset Peggy Lee. Miss Piggy then became a major character on The Muppet Show.

What is the origin story of Miss Piggy? ›

Origins and description

In a 1979 interview with The New York Times, performer Frank Oz outlined Piggy's biography: "She grew up in a small town (most likely Keystone, Iowa); her father died when she was young and her mother wasn't that nice to her. She had to enter beauty contests to survive.

When did Frank Oz stop voicing Miss Piggy? ›

Jacobson later took over the role of Sam the Eagle starting in 2005 with The Muppets' Wizard of Oz. Oz's last known performance of Miss Piggy was on January 14, 2002, alongside Kermit the Frog as part of the 50th anniversary celebration of NBC's Today.

What is Miss Piggy's first name? ›

In The Muppet Show episode 106 Piggy is referred to by the full name "Piggy Lee"; and in episode 116 Piggy tells guest star Avery Schreiber that Piggy is short for "Pigathius", which is "From the Greek, meaning 'river of passion'." However, there is no evidence to support that this is part of her name.

What mental disorder does Miss Piggy have? ›

Specifically, Miss Piggy's symptoms center on unstable relationships, reactive mood, unstable sense-of-self moving from idealizing to devaluing and impulsiveness, alcohol abuse, and problematic sexuality. These suggest a diagnosis of Borderline Personality Disorder.

What are some fun facts about Miss Piggy? ›

Miss Piggy
  • To her chagrin, she has never been nominated for an Academy Award.
  • Made headlines in March 2012, when she was involved in a physical altercation with Sharon Osbourne on the set of The Talk (2010).
  • Has never received top billing in any of her movies.
  • Practices karate.
  • Launched a perfume in 1998 named 'Moi'.

What does Miss Piggy call Kermit? ›

From modest beginnings (which she is quick to gloss over), Miss Piggy first broke into show business by winning the Miss Bogen County beauty contest, a victory which also marked her first meeting with the frog of her life, Kermit (whom she often calls "Kermie").

What does Miss Piggy symbolize? ›

Miss Piggy represented the fierce, independent, take-no-prisoners attitude of the Madonna generation of women coming up in a world entitled to enjoy the spotlight (remember "Express yourself?").

What inspired Miss Piggy? ›

My mother used to live in North Dakota where Peggy Lee sang on the local radio station before she became a famous jazz singer. When I first created Miss Piggy I called her Miss Piggy Lee—as both a joke and an homage. Peggy Lee was a very independent woman, and Piggy certainly is the same.

Why did Miss Piggy and Kermit break up? ›

And while some were concerned puppeteers had a hand in the break-up – and others thought it was a marketing stunt for their new adult-aimed Muppets TV revival – it soon transpired Kermit was seeing a brunette called Denise, while Miss Piggy had landed a relationship with the actor Topher Grace.

Who was Miss Piggy in love with? ›

1976: Miss Piggy and Kermit met.

The star couple debuted on the pilot of "The Muppet Show" in 1976. While the romance took a little while to develop in the show, in "The Muppet Movie" (1979) Miss Piggy reveals that for her, it was love at first sight.

Did Miss Piggy say "moi"? ›

Moi is the French word for "me" — it is used by Miss Piggy almost exclusively when she refers to herself.

What era was Miss Piggy? ›

Miss Piggy, American television puppet character, a highly articulated pig puppet featured on the prime-time comedy and variety program The Muppet Show (1976–81). Though she began as a relatively minor character, Miss Piggy quickly achieved leading-lady status on The Muppet Show series.

Who gave voice to Miss Piggy? ›

'Listen To Frank Oz On Fresh Air in 1988'

Film director Frank Oz is best known as the creator and voice behind Miss Piggy and the voice of Cookie Monster, Fozzie Bear and Bert.

Why did Frank Oz leave the Muppets? ›

Oz explained why he decided on leaving the Muppets in a 2007 interview: "One was that I was a dad, I have four kids. The reason was that I was constantly asked to do stuff. And also, I'd done this for 30 years, and I'd never wanted to be a puppeteer in the first place.

How many voices did Frank Oz do? ›

Frank Oz was one of the main performers on The Muppet Show, performing several of the show's stars. Oz performed Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Animal, as well as secondary characters Sam the Eagle, George the Janitor and Marvin Suggs.

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