Hervé Villechaize facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hervé Villechaize
Villechaize in 1977
Born	Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (1943-04-23)23 April 1943 Paris, France
Died	4 September 1993(1993-09-04) (aged 50) North Hollywood, California, U.S.
Resting place	Ashes spread into the Pacific Ocean
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1966–1993
Notable work	Nick Nack in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) Spider in Seizure (1974) King Fausto in Forbidden Zone (1980) Smiley in Two Moon Junction (1988)
Height	3 ft 11 in (119 cm)
Television	Fantasy Island
Spouse(s)	Anne Sadowski ​ ​ (m. 1970; div. 1979)​ Camille Hagen ​ ​ (m. 1980; div. 1982)​

Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (French: [ɛʁve vilʃɛz]; April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993) was a French actor and painter. He is best known for his roles as the evil henchman Nick Nack in the 1974 James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun, and as Mr. Roarke's assistant, Tattoo, on the American television series Fantasy Island that he played from 1977 to 1983. On Fantasy Island, his shout of "The plane! The plane!" became one of the show's signature phrases.

Early life

Villechaize was born in Nazi-occupied Paris on April 23, 1943, to English-born Evelyn (Recchionni) and André Villechaize, a surgeon in Toulon. 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.

Career

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.

Though popular with the public, Villechaize proved a difficult actor on Fantasy Island, where he continually quarreled with the producers. He was eventually fired after demanding a salary on par with that of his co-star Ricardo Montalbán. Villechaize was replaced by Christopher Hewett.

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".

Villechaize 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 [es]. His final appearance was a cameo as himself in an episode of The Ben Stiller Show.

Personal life and death

In the mid-1970s, Villechaize had a two-year relationship with actress Susan Tyrrell and shared a home with her in the Laurel Canyon area of Los Angeles.

Villechaize was married twice. He was divorced from his first wife in 1978 after eight years of marriage. He met his second wife, Camille Hagen, an actress and stand-in double, on the set of the pilot for Fantasy Island. They resided at a 1.5-acre (0.61 ha) San Fernando Valley ranch, which also was home to a menagerie of farm animals and pets.

In the early morning hours of September 4, 1993, Villechaize was found dead in the backyard of his North Hollywood home. He was pronounced dead at the Medical Center of North Hollywood. His ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean off Point Fermin in San Pedro, Los Angeles.

At the time of his death, Cartoon Network was in negotiations for him to co-star in Space Ghost Coast to Coast, which was in pre-production at the time. Villechaize would have voiced Space Ghost's sidekick on the show.

Filmography

See also

In Spanish: Hervé Villechaize para niños