Melissa Whitmire

Melissa Whitmire is a puppeteer and the wife/manager of Steve Whitmire. She worked as an assistant and background puppeteer on several Muppet projects. Melissa assisted in Dreamchild, The Muppets Take Manhattan, Kermit's Swamp Years and The Dark Crystal (assisting Kathryn Mullen for Kira). I wonder why she hasn't assisted her husband with any of the characters he performed while working the Muppets. I've read that Whitmire made clothes for Rizzo the Rat in his earliest appearances until he gained a more prominent role. In the beginning of The Muppets Take Manhattan, she can be seen in the audience when Kermit thanks his students. Melissa Whitmire should have been given credit for making costumes for a rat. In fact, she should have worked in the costume department of the Muppet Workshop since she made clothes often. It would seem that the wife of the Muppet performer is more of a manager than a puppeteer because they don't puppeteer as often as their husband does. Whitmire needs to do more puppetry in her life. It's too late to do it with the Muppets now since her husband got fired in 2016, but she can do it when Steve is puppeteering on something else. The good news is that Melissa still had a chance to assist with the Muppets while managing her husband. Otherwise it would have been for nothing if she never worked with Steve. Melissa and Steve live in Atlanta, GA and participate in humane society work and foster cats. I never knew they were into cats so much. It's something that amazes me about puppeteers, you never know what they do outside of work. Melissa Whitmire, I hope you and Steve have a wonderful life together. Thanks for managing a puppet star!