ACE CRAWFORD, PRIVATE EYE/CBS/1983 (Little Person)
**(Billy Barty) Inch, the dwarf bartender and owner of the sleazy
wharfside club called the "Shanty," frequented by Ace Crawford,
private eye. Note: Billy Barty, the 3-foot-9 actor who founded
Little People of America (LPA) in 1957, died on December 23, 2000 of
heart failure, at the age of 76. He received a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame in 1981.
ADDAMS FAMILY/ABC/1964-66 (Little Person)
**(Felix Silla) Uncle Itt, a dwarf relative (covered head to toe
with hair) who visited from time-to-time at the spooky home of
eccentric millionaire, Gomez Addams (John Astin). Cousin Itt spoke
in a strange high-pitch garbled language that only the Addams' could
understand. Felix Silla immigrated to America from Rome, Italy, when
he was sixteen. He found work with the Ringling Brothers Circus in
New York and later traveled to California to work in show business.
He has worked as Commodore P.O.P., a mascot for the Pacific Ocean
Park amusement park; performed as a costumed character for Sid and
Marty Krofft's Saturday-morning programs LIDSVILLE and H.R. PUFNSTUF;
and as Twiki, the tiny robot companion on BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH
CENTURY.
BARETTA/ABC/1976 (Little Person)
**(Angelo Rossitto) Little Mo, a small shoe shine guy working in a
large unnamed Metropolis. Moe provided information to streetwise
police detective Tony Baretta and on occasion helped Tony with his
undercover assignments.
BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25TH CENTURY/NBC/1979-81
(Little Person)
**(Felix Silla) Twiki, a three-foot silver robot who was companion
to USA astronaut, Captain William "Buck" Rogers, a survivor from the
20th century. Dwarf actor Felix Silla played the man beneath the
armor.
CHARMED/WB/1998-2006 (Little Person)
**(Niki Botelho) Elf Nanny, a diminutive enchanted caregiver who was
hired as a nanny for Piper's new born baby on this supernatural drama
On episode No. 97 "Sam I Am" Piper and Leo held
interviews to find an appropriate babysitter for their soon-to-be
born baby. After their initial meeting, Leo commented "That little
elf? Got a big mouth." The Elf Woman told her potential employers
that she didn't cook, did only "light" housekeeping and wondered if
she was "expected to protect the baby from the incessant demon
attacks."
CHARMINGS/ABC/1987-88 (Little Person)
**(Cork Hubbert) Luther, a dwarf who magically awoke in the 20th
century after a 1000 year spell along with Prince Charming, Snow
White, and the evil stepmother Queen Lillian who originally cast the
spell which made them sleep a millennium.
CIRCUS BOY/NBC/ABC/1956-58 (Little Person)
**(Billy Barty) Little Tom, the dwarf who traveled with the Burke &
Walsh circus, a turn-of-the-century frontier circus owned by Big Tim
Champion.
CLUB OASIS/NBC/1957-58 (Little Person)
*(Billy Barty) Dwarf Billy Barty (as himself) was a regular on this
variety program set in a fictional nightclub called the Club Oasis.
CONAN: THE ADVENTURER/SYN/1997-98 (Little Person)
*(Danny Woodburn/costar) Otli, the dwarf companion of the mighty
warrior Conan the Barbarian who traveled the ancient world in search
of adventure. Another member of the team was Zzeben, a bald, mute
gladiator played by Robert McRay.
DANGER THEATRE/FOX/1993 (Little Person)
**(Bill Morrissette) Tom McCormick, a dwarfish detective who took
orders from bumbling Captain Mike Morgan on the segment entitled
TROPICAL PUNCH. When a suspect needed to be arrested, Mike said
"Tom, cuff 'em, book 'em!" (a parody of signature catchphrase "Book'em
Danno" spoken by Jack Lord in his role as Detective Steve McGarrett
on the classic cop show HAWAII FIVE-O).
DIFF'RENT STROKES/NBC/ABC/1978-86 (Little Person)
*(Gary Coleman/costar) Gary Coleman, the 10-year old black star of
this popular sitcom (two black youths adopted by a Park Avenue
millionaire) was born with a congenital kidney problem. He got a new
kidney at the age of five from a Greek boy at Children's Memorial
Hospital. Each December 18th (date of his first operation) Gary
gives a birthday party for his kidney. Coleman has had additional
kidney transplants over the years. His smaller stature is attributed
to his kidney condition.
DR. SHRINKER/ABC/1977 (Scientist Shrinks People)
*(Jay Robinson) Dr. Shrinker, a crazed scientist who shrunk humans
via radiation with the aide of his little assistant (Billy Barty) on
a segment of the KROFFT SUPERSHOW/ABC/1976-77). Dr. Shrinker used a
large four-foot, multicolor barrel device stored in his laboratory
to shrink his victims. The same machine would reverse the process.
Note: The show resurrected the idea of a shrinking machine from the
1940 sci-fi film Dr. Cyclops starring Albert Dekker as an other
crazed scientist who shrank humans and animal and kept them locked
in tiny laboratory cages.
FAMILY LAW/CBS/1999-2002 (Little Person)
**(Meredith Eaton) Emily Resnick, a feisty four-foot, three-inch
attorney working for the law firm of Holt & Associates in Los
Angeles. Although short in stature, this doesn't effect Emily's
resolve to win cases for her clients. The Emily Resnick character
first appeared in the Fall 2001 season.
FANTASY ISLAND/ABC/1978-84 (Little Person & Injured leg)
*(Herve Villechaize/costar) Tattoo, a 3-foot 11-inch mischievous
manservant dressed in a white suit who worked on the mysterious
Fantasy Island where dreams came true. When the airplane bearing
guests to the island was seen on the horizon, Tattoo rushed to ring
the bell in the mansion tower. There he bellowed his catchphrase,
"De plane!, De plane!" Villechaize left the series in 1983 over a
salary dispute. In 1988, Villechaize wrote "I am a man trapped in a
boy's body. I accept it. But I do not have to like it." On September
4, 1994 Herve Villechaize mortally shot himself in the chest on the
patio of his Los Angeles home. A suicide note revealed that,
although he "loved everybody," he could no longer bear his ailments.
He had suffered medical problems from his undersized lungs and
nearly died of pneumonia the year before. The Paris-born actor
wanted to allow a doctor specializing in dwarfism to study his
remains and then he wanted to be cremated and his ashes distributed
at sea. Trivia Note: Ricardo Montalban who costarred on the series
also had a physical disability. Back in 1951, Montalban was thrown
from his horse while portraying an Indian in Across the Wide
Missouri, a western starring Clark Gable. He landed on his back and
suffered a spinal hemorrhage. The Mexican born-actor still had a
telltale limp from that accident.
FORD FESTIVAL/NBC/1951-52 (Little Person)
*(Billy Barty) Dwarf Billy Barty (as himself) was a regular on this
1950s musical variety series.
FOUL PLAY/ABC/1981 (Little Persons)
**(Greg & John Rice) Ben and Beau, a friendly pair of twin brothers
(who happened to be dwarfs) living in San Francisco. They were the
landlords of a beautiful librarian. In reality, the Rice Brothers
were successful real estate entrepreneurs. See also "That **** Quiz
Show."
GET SMART/NBC/CBS/1965-70 (Little Person)
**(Michael Dunn) Mr. Big, an evil dwarf working for the criminal
organization KAOS. On the series pilot Mr. Big, steals a Doomsday
Machine, kidnaps its inventor, and threatens to destroy major cities
of the world unless he's paid $100 million. Another KAOS agent named
The Claw (played by Leonard Strong) was the head of the Chinese
branch of KAOS. He has a false left arm with a magnet for a left
hand. He operates from the Shanghai a-Go-Go and a Chinese laundry in
San Francisco. His name is pronounced "Craw, not Craw."
HALF-NELSON/NBC/1985 (Little Person)
*(Joe Pesci) Rocky Nelson, a short New York cop who moved west to
pursue an acting career but ended up working as a private eye.
IN LIVING COLOR/FOX/1990-94 (Little Person)
*(Damon Wayans/costar) The Tiny Avenger,
dwarfish blonde person who occasionally assisted Clark Bent, a black mailroom man who worked
for the Daily Glove newspaper. Clark's alter ego was Handi-Man, a
physically challenged superhero with gnarled hands who fought the
likes of Doctor Naughty (Jim Carrey), who hated the handicapped
because he once received a ticket for parking in a handicapped spot. After vanquishing
the bad guys Handi-man said "Never underestimate the powers of the
handicapped."
TRIVIA NOTE: The show also featured a strangely
handicapped police officer called THE HEAD DETECTIVE, (Damon Wayans)
so named because all he was...was a head sitting on a pair of shoes
with a small pair of arms sprouting from his neck. He worked
undercover with a police officer named Adam (Keenan Ivory Wayans)
who carried "Head" around in a bowling bag. According to the series
script the Head Detective was "Built sort of like a Mr. Potato Head:
his hands are attached to flexible rods which come out of his ears,
and his head rests on two large floppy shoes. A gun is permanently
stuck to the palm of one hand, and a police badge is permanently
stuck to the palm of the other. The hands sway up and down on a
flexible rod." Another handicapped character was Mr. Macavey (played
by David Alan Grier), a high school teacher with the
responsibilities of monitoring hallways. He carried around a
miniature bull horn and hobbled about on his shatter hip. He injured
himself playing an innocent game of Twister. As his character said
"Left hand. Blue dot. That's all she wrote."
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