Tony Basilicato

Tony Basilicato was a puppeteer and writer who worked as an additional Muppet performer on The Muppet Movie, his only known Muppet credit. It's a shame he never did any other project featuring the Muppets in his career. Though a few years later, Tony worked with Muppet performer Lisa Buckley and ALF performer Paul Fusco in a 1981 Halloween special called The Crown of Bogg. In addition to playing the role of King Mildew, Basilicato also co-wrote the special and became a writer from there. Years later, he focused more on writing children's books, penning Buzz & Flutter's Big Electronic Game Book, the comic Prime Slime Tales, and numerous other books. The image above shows him in 1991 with one of his puppet creations Grandpa Crusty, though it's currently unknown what show the character appeared in. It's too bad there weren't any other productions Tony Basilicato did that are listed on his Muppet Wiki page, it's probably considered lost. But at least he still contributed to writing for children during his life whether it was for media or literature, he's wrote them all. I certainly hope his puppets are placed in a museum where people can see them and learn all about the productions he worked on. Sadly in 2025, Tony died and he never got to do any other Muppet production, besides their first theatrical film. Still doing one film is better than not working with the Muppets at all in Basilicato's case. And I hope that one of these days, more media where he performed on will get found and archived for entertainment use. Until then, people should re-watch The Muppet Movie and question themselves on what character he assisted, you never know when something will come up online and people will be intrigued by him. Tony Basilicato, despite doing only one Muppet film, it was still worth it being a puppeteer and writer for many years. Once your co-workers share info about you online, then people will want to know more about you. Even though you're gone now, you'll always be remembered by those who worked with you. Fantastic puppeteering, writing, and publishing Tony. Rest in peace and we'll keep your works in our hearts Basilicato!