Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize

Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (April 23, 1943 – September 4, 1993)

He was a French-born actor and painter of English and German descent who achieved worldwide recognition for various roles including that of the evil henchman Nick Nack in the James Bond film, The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), as well as Mr. Roarke's assistant, Tattoo, on the television series Fantasy Island (1977–1984). On Fantasy Island, he was well known for delivering the line "De plane! De plane!" Villechaize suffered from proportionate dwarfism, likely due to an endocrine disorder, despite his surgeon father's attempts to cure the disease in several institutions. A gifted artist, 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 he left France for the United States. His first movie appearance was in Chappaqua (1966). His big break was getting cast in The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), by which time he had become so poor he was living out of his car in Los Angeles. Prior to being signed up by Bond producer Albert R. Broccoli, he made ends meet by working as a rat catcher's assistant near his South Central home. In addition to being an actor, Villechaize became an active member of a movement in 1970s and 1980s California to deal with child abuse and neglect, often going to crime scenes himself to help comfort abuse victims.

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 a par with that of his co-star Ricardo Montalbán. Villechaize was replaced with Christopher Hewett, of Mr. Belvedere and The Producers fame. He also starred in the movie Forbidden Zone (1980), and appeared in Airplane II: The Sequel (1982), and episodes of Diff'rent Strokes and Taxi. Villechaize was found dead at his apartment on September 4, 1993, from a self inflicted gunshot wound. Villechaize left a suicide note saying he was despondent over longtime health problems. He was cremated, and the ashes scattered.