| Hervé Villechaize | |
|---|---|
 Villechaize as Tattoo |
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| Born | April 23 1943 Paris, France |
| Died | September 4 1993 (aged 50) |
Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (April 23, 1943 - September 4, 1993) was a French actor who achieved worldwide recognition for his role as Mr. Roarke's assistant, Tattoo, in the television series Fantasy Island (1978 - 1984). He was also well known for playing the evil henchman Nick Nack in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun.
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Biography
Early life
Villechaize suffered from proportionate (as opposed to achondroplastic) dwarfism due to a thyroid dysfunction, despite his surgeon father's attempts to cure the disease in several institutions. In later years, he insisted on being called a midget, rather than "little person," irritating activists like Billy Barty. Villechaize was born in Paris, where he was raised, to English-born Evelyn (Recchionni) and Andre Villechaize, a French surgeon. He also had Filipino ancestry.[1] Villechaize was bullied at school for his condition and found solace in painting. After studying art at college, he left for the USA. He settled in a bohemian section in New York, taught himself English by watching television, and continued his career as an artist and photographer. He began acting in off-Broadway productions, including "The Young Master Dante" by Werner Liepolt and a play by Sam Shepard, and also did some photo shoot modeling for National Lampoon, before moving on to film.
Career
His first movie appearance was in Chappaqua in 1966, which was followed by several films including Christopher Speeth and Werner Liepolt's Malatesta's Carnival of Blood, Crazy Joe, Seizure directed by Oliver Stone, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight and The Forbidden Zone. His big break was getting cast in The Man with the Golden Gun in 1974, by which time he had become so poor he was living out of his car in Los Angeles. From what his co-actor Christopher Lee saw, The Man with the Golden Gun filming was possibly the happiest time of Herve's life, Lee likening it to honey in the sandwich between an insecure past and an uncertain future. In addition to being an actor, Villechaize became an active member of a movement in 1970s-1980s California to deal with child abuse and neglect, often going to crime scenes himself to help comfort abuse victims. Villechaize's former co-workers recalled that despite his stature, he would often confront and chastise spousal and child abusers when he arrived at crime scenes. 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 that his pay be on par with that of co-star Ricardo Montalbán. The show's popularity waned soon after this move, and it was soon canceled. According to his former butler in an episode of the E! True Hollywood Story[2], Villechaize never got over losing his job, and for the remainder of his life practiced an often nightly ritual of drinking in a darkened room while screaming obscenities at an episode of Fantasy Island playing on his television. He made his final appearance in a cameo role in the 1988 erotic film Two Moon Junction.
Personal life
As a consequence of his health problems and troubles in his professional career, Villechaize became alcoholic and depressive in the last few years of his life, which led to erratic and sometimes violent behavior, including an incident in which he allegedly held his agent at gunpoint in a booth at a restaurant in L.A. In the early morning hours of September 4, 1993, Herve shot himself at his home. He was found by his common law wife, Kathy Self and rushed to the Medical Center at North Hollywood, California. He died later that day as a result of his injuries.[3] At the time of his suicide, 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 been Space Ghost's sidekick on the show.[4]
References
External links
- Hervé Villechaize at the Internet Movie Database
- NNDB Biography
- Find a Death page
- New York Times obituary
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Villechaize, Hervé |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | 0 |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | actor |
| DATE OF BIRTH | April 23, 1943 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Paris, France |
| DATE OF DEATH | September 4 1993 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | |
