Hervé Villechaize

Villechaize was born in Nazi-occupied Paris on April 23, 1943, to Evelyn, an Anglo-Italian socialite who was an ambulance driver during World War II and André Villechaize, a surgeon in Toulon. Villechaize also had German ancestry. The youngest of four sons, Villechaize was born with dwarfism, likely due to an endocrine disorder, which his surgeon father tried unsuccessfully to cure in several institutions. In later years, he insisted on being called a "midget" rather than a "dwarf", which annoyed his acting contemporary with a similar condition, Billy Barty, who was an activist who found that term derogatory. Villechaize was bullied at school for his condition and found solace in painting. In 1959, at age 16, he entered the École des Beaux-Arts to study art. In 1961, he became the youngest artist ever to have his work displayed in the Museum of Paris.

In 1964, Villechaize left France for the United States. He settled in a Bohemian section of New York City, and taught himself English by watching television. Villechaize initially worked as an artist, painter, and photographer. He began acting in Off-Broadway productions, including Werner Liepolt's The Young Master Dante and a play by Sam Shepard, and he also modelled for photos for National Lampoon before moving on to film.

His first film appearance was in Chappaqua (1966). His second film was Edward Summer's Item 72-D: The Adventures of Spa and Fon, filmed in 1969. This was followed by several films, including The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (1971); Christopher Speeth and Werner Liepolt's Malatesta's Carnival of Blood (1973); Crazy Joe (1974); and Oliver Stone's first film, Seizure (1974). He was asked to play a role in Alejandro Jodorowsky's film Dune, which had originally begun pre-production in 1971, but was later cancelled.

His big break was getting cast in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), by which time he had become so poor that he was living in his car in Los Angeles. Prior to being signed by Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, he made ends meet by working as a rat catcher's assistant near his South Central home. From what his co-star Christopher Lee saw, The Man with the Golden Gun filming was possibly the happiest time of Villechaize's life; Lee likened it to honey in the sandwich between an insecure past and an uncertain future.

In the 1970s, Villechaize performed Oscar the Grouch on Sesame Street as a pair of legs peeping out from Oscar's trash can, for scenes that required Oscar to be mobile. These appearances began in the third season, and included the 1978 Hawaii episodes.

In 1980, Cleveland International Records released a single by the Children of the World, featuring Villechaize as vocalist: "Why", with B-side "When a Child Is Born".

Though popular with the public, Villechaize proved a difficult actor on Fantasy Island, where he continually propositioned women and quarreled with the producers. He was eventually fired after demanding a salary on par with that of his co-star Ricardo Montalbán. For its final season from '83-'84, Villechaize was replaced by Christopher Hewett, best known for his lead role in the sitcom Mr. Belvedere.

Villechaize also starred in the movie Forbidden Zone (1980), and appeared in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), and episodes of Diff'rent Strokes and Taxi. He later played the title role in the "Rumpelstiltskin" episode of Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre. In the 1980s, he became popular in Spain due to his impersonations of Prime Minister Felipe González on the television show Viaje con nosotros (Travel with Us), with showman Javier Gurruchaga. His final appearance was a cameo as himself in an episode of The Ben Stiller Show.