The Other Actors Who Nearly Played Scrooge In The Muppet Christmas Carol

It is just about an immutable truth that Michael Caine is doing God-level work as Ebenezer Scrooge in “The Muppet Christmas Carol.” The 1992 adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic is, partly because it arrived in theaters soon after the tragic and untimely passing of Muppet creator Jim Henson, a surprisingly straightforward take on the holiday story of a grouchy and rich old Londoner who gets a revival of the human spirit after experiencing ghostly visions. With Henson no longer in the mix, the Muppets themselves (especially those originally performed by the great man) take something of a back seat in the film.

Of course, if you are making an adaptation of “A Christmas Carol,” focusing on the performer playing Scrooge does make pretty obvious sense. And Michael Caine, by that point an Oscar winner for his supporting work in Woody Allen’s “Hannah and Her Sisters,” seemed then and now to be the perfect person to bring Scrooge to life.

You may well already know that Caine told the film’s director, Brian Henson, that he would treat his work as seriously as if he was performing Shakespeare on the stage, which managed to avoid seeming pretentious in the end result. (If anything, the fact that Caine takes the role so seriously ensures that this feels like a true version of “A Christmas Carol” in spite of the Muppety silliness on all sides.) But you may not know that Caine wasn’t the only person in the mix to play Ebenezer Scrooge. Because this was the first Muppet movie to focus as much on a human star as on the Muppets themselves, it stands to reason that other actors were considered for the part. That said, the major players for the role aside from Caine were largely not as well-known or, in one case, not even British (and definitely not very family-friendly).

Because Charles Dickens is one of the most famous authors in the Western world, it’s not so surprising that some of the other men considered to play Scrooge in “The Muppet Christmas Carol” had already appeared in other Dickens adaptations. 

Indeed, one of the men considered for the role (per the American Film Institute) was David Warner, the inestimable British character actor from films like “Tron,” “Time Bandits,” and “Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.” Warner had, almost a decade prior to the release of “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” also co-starred in one of the more impressive adaptations of Dickens’ holiday tale, but not as Scrooge. In the 1984 TV-movie version directed by Clive Donner, the role of Scrooge went to the towering American performer George C. Scott; in that film, Warner played the meek but kindly Bob Cratchit, a role that may seem counter to Warner’s more frequent roles as an underhanded or tough customer. But while Warner had an immensely deep career, with plenty of roles on television as well as on the big screen, he would never end up working with the Muppets, either in this film or later on.

Another actor who was almost Scrooge, and had plenty of experience in the world of Dickens, is the late Ron Moody. Many audiences know him best specifically for his work in the musical adaptation “Oliver!” The film itself was inspired by the Dickens novel “Oliver Twist,” which centers on a friendly orphan boy trying to make his way in 19th century England on his own and being roped into the world of pick-pocketing by the sly Fagin and his orphan charges. Moody played Fagin not only in the 1968 film version that won Best Picture at the Oscars, but he also originated the role in the West End production of the musical in 1960. (He reprised the role in a mid-1980s Broadway revival, and got a Tony nomination.) 

Though “Oliver!” the film was very successful at the Academy Awards, Moody had to go home with just an Oscar nomination instead of the statue itself. Nevertheless, Moody kept acting in the U.S. and back in England, in films like Mel Brooks’ “The Twelve Chairs” and the Disney live-action nonsense “Unidentified Flying Oddball,” his role as Fagin is still his most notable. Unfortunately, he, like Warner, never wound up working on a Muppet project in spite of being considered for Scrooge.

Of the other two actors considered for the role of Ebenezer Scrooge in “The Muppet Christmas Carol,” only one of them is even British. As noted above, of course, it’s never been a requirement that the actor playing Scrooge be English. (Obviously, there are so many other adaptations of the story that sometimes Scrooge has been American, a modern character, or even a woman; the story is so malleable that it can fit within so many genres and have its roles played by plenty of people.) But seeing as the American in question was none other than legendary stand-up comedian George Carlin, it’s a little surprising. 

If nothing else, to imagine Carlin as Scrooge is to imagine a much less faithful version of “A Christmas Carol” — perhaps something more akin to the zany upending of a British classic that the Muppets would embark upon with their other ’90s-era Disney film, “Muppet Treasure Island.” Carlin, to be fair, had slightly softened his edgy image by the early 1990s. He was a bit removed from his deliberately profane stand-up, having appeared in the “Bill and Ted” films and shown up on the American version of “Thomas & Friends” as the narrator and first conductor of Shining Time Station, who told the stories of Thomas the Tank Engine. While he did continue making slightly more all-ages fare, even appearing in the first “Cars” film as Fillmore before he passed in 2008, the closest Carlin ever got to the Muppets was serving as the host of the first episode of “Saturday Night Live,” back when the Muppets were a regular fixture on the late-night series.

The last big name considered for Scrooge was British, and like Caine himself, he cut an intense figure in his various roles. David Hemmings was, like Caine, an up-and-coming performer in the Swinging Sixties who made a name for himself with an edgy drama. For Caine, it was the savage character study “Alfie”; for Hemmings, it was starring in the lead role in Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Blow-Up” in 1967. Hemmings kept acting steadily until his death in 2003, even playing the role of Cassius in the 2000 epic action film “Gladiator.” 

While Hemmings also did some directing and producing work on the side, having co-created the distribution company Hemdale Film Corporation in the late 1960s, he was far from a fixture in all-ages programming. (Also, while Hemdale would eventually produce films like “The Terminator” and “Platoon,” he left the company before those hits ever arrived.) Hemmings, like the others noted here, never did appear on “The Muppet Show” or work with the Muppets, despite being considered for “Muppet Christmas Carol.”

On one hand, it’s easy to wonder what “The Muppet Christmas Carol” would look like with someone else playing Ebenezer Scrooge. Since the role has been performed by so many people across decades and mediums, you can’t help but imagine other options. And yes, there’s some small bit of curiosity in wondering if a version starring, say, George Carlin would have been enough of a tonal departure to make it feel like an entirely different film. But would that version of this movie have endured? 

While “The Muppet Christmas Carol” was not some massive box office hit when it arrived in the holiday season of 1992, it has since become one of the most treasured titles of Millennial-era youth. Certainly, some people (including one /Film writer per their ranking of all the Muppet movies) may think that “Muppet Treasure Island” is a more purely enjoyable film that feels truer to the spirit of the Muppets. But there’s little question that Caine was the right person for the role, and at the right time.

The Muppets were arguably in a very precarious spot in the early 1990s. Though the late Jim Henson was not the entire reason why the Muppets were beloved across the world, he was a huge part of why, having performed as the massively iconic Kermit the Frog, among others. Losing him meant, in some ways, that we lost the spirit of the Muppets as they were originally conceived. “The Muppet Christmas Carol” may not have been the first post-Henson effort as a whole (considering TV specials), but it was the first full-throated attempt to bring the Muppets back into the world. And Steve Whitmire, the man who took over for Henson, was plenty worried about being the new Kermit. 

Caine may not have been the only person up for the role of Scrooge, but the gravitas and pathos he brought to the role felt oddly in keeping with the mournful spirit of the Muppets after they lost their captain. It’s fun to know what might have been, but we all know the Muppets made the right choice.