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The former Kermit the Frog actor says he's not hurt he's excluded from the upcoming Jim Henson documentary ... he's hurt 'cause he thinks Jim's spirit within The Muppets is dying.

Steve Whitmire -- who took up the role in 1990 after Henson's untimely death -- tells TMZ ... producers contacted him about the forthcoming documentary "Jim Henson Idea Man" all about the iconic puppeteer a few years ago for home movies he shot dating back to 1978.

Whitmire says he happily handed over the tapes and expected the team to come back around when they were ready to interview him -- after all, he voiced the franchise's most iconic character from '90 until his firing in 2017 -- but, he says no one followed up.

Edgar Lansbury, a Tony-winning producer and brother of late TV & Film star Angela Lansbury has died ... according to a post from one of his former stars.

Peggy Gordon -- who appeared in the original off-Broadway cast for the show "Godspell" -- shared the news on Facebook earlier this week. She didn't provide a cause of death but said his memorial would take place in the fall.

Edgar, born in London in 1930, first rose to prominence on the Broadway scene in the early 1960s ... when his show "The Subject Was Roses" starring Martin Sheen won him the Tony Award for Best Play.

Pauly Shore's moving full-steam ahead with his Richard Simmons biopic ... reportedly telling an L.A. crowd he's going forward with or without Simmons' blessing.

The actor-comedian hopped onstage for his Netflix Is A Joke show Friday night in Los Angeles when he addressed the controversial film project ... and, it sounds like Pauly's out on potentially getting Richard onboard.

Variety reports Shore said, “I’m also gonna be starring in the Richard Simmons biopic … whether he likes it or not, Richard. Just another f***ing bump in my f***ing road.”

Tom Skerritt has no interest in seeing the latest "Alien" sequel -- instead, he's keeping his streak going of passing on all the movies after the OG, because he says they can't compete.

The actor -- who played Capt. Dallas in the original 1979 sci-fi classic -- talked to TMZ ahead of its 45th anniversary, and says he was well aware while making the Ridley Scott film that it was going to be a classic ... and that's partly why he hasn't seen ANY of the others.

He tells us he also figured the studio -- seeing huge dollar signs -- would order up lots of sequels (8 to be exact) which include crossovers...  and the upcoming "Alien: Romulus."

John Leguizamo might not remember Patrick Swayze fondly all these years later -- but he might be pleased to know the feeling was mutual ... so says PS' brother.

We spoke to the late actor's sibling, Sean, who tells TMZ ... he actually recalls having a conversation with Pat on the heels of them wrapping production for their 1995 film 'To Wong Foo' -- in which Patrick and John both starred as drag queens.

According to Sean ... Patrick relayed to him that he found JL to be a difficult person, that he had an attitude and they butted heads a lot on set ... so that part of John's story's confirmed.

Robin Williams really was the nicest guy in Hollywood ... 'cause one of the child stars from "Mrs. Doubtfire" says he stuck up for her ... this after she got expelled as a teen.

Lisa Jakub -- who played one of Robin's onscreen daughters in the 1993 comedy -- stopped by fellow 'Doubtfire' alum Matthew Lawrence's "Brotherly Love Podcast" this week -- where she shared how she was kicked out of school while filming their flick.

She explained she was attending high school in Canada at the time -- but had to be on set to shoot the movie, which meant she'd be out of school for a good while ... an arrangement she says they were cool with at first, until they weren't ... and told her not to come back.

Kathy Bates is ready to slide into some stylish shapewear -- saying she'd be happy to star in a campaign for SKIMS ... all Kim Kardashian has to do is make the call!

The actress attended the CBS Fall Schedule Celebration in L.A. Thursday and chatted with People about Kim's turn on "American Horror Story" ... providing a unique perspective since Bates regularly pops up in the anthology series, although she's not in KK's season.

Kathy admits she hasn't watched Kim in 'AHS' yet ... but, the two apparently have a rapport -- 'cause Kathy says Kim sent her SKIMS a few years back and apparently told her she'd put her in an an ad one day. Welp, Kathy's ready to take her up on it, saying she's still waiting!

John Leguizamo is kinda speaking ill of the dead -- labeling the late Patrick Swayze as insecure while shooting a movie in the '90s ... with some other descriptions to boot.

The actor was talking to Andy Cohen on his SiriusXM radio show this week -- and they started discussing JL's '95 comedy 'To Wong Foo' ... in which Pat, John and Wesley Snipes portrayed drag queens and shared the spotlight together on camera.

Andy tells John he'd only heard wonderful things about Patrick -- but when John hesitates to confirm that ... they get into a little gossip, with John describing them butting heads on set.

Ryan Gosling is staying away from heavy material when it comes to acting these days -- and the reason is simple ... he's got a family now, and doesn't wanna be a drag around them.

The actor talked to The Wall Street Journal about this -- explaining that he's simply not taking certain roles that he feels are too dark or psychologically screwy ... because accepting that kind of work will ultimately have an impact at home, with Eva Mendes and their kids.

RG says he considers what sorts of parts/movies will be good for the whole fam -- and he'll dive into stuff that he thinks will help him bond with his partner and their two daughters.

Anya Taylor-Joy embodied the not-so-distant future at an event for her new flick ... leaving little to the imagination -- while also telegraphing to the world, keep your paws off!

The actress pulled up to the Australian premiere of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" -- the upcoming series prequel -- Thursday in Sydney ... and she was rocking post-apocalyptic chic, definitely pulling off the look with some flair to spare.

Anya's got a metal/gold aesthetic here, stitched together so loosely her backside's totally showing through. More importantly, she's got a helluva lot of spikes all over the getup.

Ryan Gosling's new action flick is stirring up controversy ... 'cause fans are pissed about a throwaway line in the final film -- and, it's all about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

"The Fall Guy" -- which is out Friday, but seems to have been viewed by some via advanced screenings -- contains a joke at one point about the volatile former couple, specifically focused on their knockdown/drag-out fights from when they were still together.

In the flick, Emily Blunt and "Ted Lasso" star Hannah Waddingham -- playing a director and movie producer -- reportedly walk into a totally wrecked star's trailer ... when Waddingham quips, "It’s like Amber and Johnny were just in here."

Anne Hathaway learned the hard way that most people don't read books anymore – that is if you watch the "The Tonight Show."

This week, the actress sat down with late-night host Jimmy Fallon to promote her new movie, "The Idea Of You," which is based on the identically titled 2017 novel written by Robinne Lee.

Midway through the interview, Anne was discussing the plot of the film in which her character, Solene – a single mom -- unexpectedly falls for a younger boy band singer, Hayes, played by Nicholas Galitzine.

Elisabeth Moss says filming "Girl, Interrupted" was more like a real-life "Mean Girls," as the set split into 2 camps ... with Angelina Jolie and Winona Ryder each calling shots.

The two-time Golden Globe winner -- who played Polly in the 1999 flick -- opened up about the behind-the-scenes environment for the hit flick on the podcast "Let’s Talk Off Camera With Kelly Ripa" ... and, she claims it was kinda like being in rival gangs.

EM says an Angelina Jolie group formed, and, apparently, she found them hella intimidating -- saying she never even considered trying to join camp AJ because they were all too cool.

Here's your tearjerker moment of the week -- Alfred Molina is talking about his dad, who didn't approve of him being an actor ... even though he kept tabs on his boy in private.

The veteran thespian sat down for an interview with Vanity Fair, and he recounted this heartbreaking story about how his father completely rebuffed his dream to pursue acting and to get into showbiz ... something that created a years-long divide between them.

AM says he actually gave us a higher-paying job in his youth to dive into his craft -- which was his passion -- and when he broke this news to his dad ... he got the cold shoulder.

12:01 PM PT -- A rep for Amazon MGM Studios tells TMZ ... "Dwayne Johnson and Seven Bucks have been incredible partners on 'Red One' -- a film that audiences of all ages are going to love this holiday season. Our testing has been very strong -- the reaction from CinemaCon speaks for itself -- and we couldn’t have made it without Dwayne’s constant work and support."

They add, "Any reporting that implies that we got to this point with him showing up 7-8 hours late to set is both ridiculous and false."

The Rock got into a tiff with Ryan Reynolds while they were working on a movie together years ago -- and while it wasn't a blowup fight as has been suggested, it was a real thing.

Barbra Streisand is catching a lot of heat on social media after questioning whether Melissa McCarthy used Ozempic to achieve her recent look.

It all started Sunday ... Melissa – who has long struggled with weight issues – posted a photo of her slimmer self with friend and film director, Adam Shankman, as they attended the Centre Theatre Group Gala in L.A.

As you can see, Melissa looked terrific in her light green dress with a matching blazer alongside the stylish Shankman. She captioned the image with a combined message of going to the event with Shankman and getting closer to her dream of dancing onstage.