Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize (April 23, 1943 - September 4, 1993) was a French-American actor born in Paris.
He is best remembered for his roles as Scaramanga's henchman Nick Nack in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun and as Tattoo on the TV show Fantasy Island alongside Ricardo Montalbán. He was born with dwarfism, which led to a career of playing characters who were short in stature. Although he had steady work for six years on Fantasy Island, that came to an end when he demanded to be paid as much as his co-star Ricardo Montalbán. In his later years, he could be seen Adam Westing on The Larry Sanders Show and The Ben Stiller Show. He also became popular in Spain in the 1980s due to his impersonations of then-incumbent Prime Minister Felipe González (with whom he did share a passing resemblance
◊) on the television show Viaje con nosotros ("Travel with Us").
By the time he was 50, Villechaize was suffering from chronic health problems due to oversized internal organs putting pressure on his small body. This led to him becoming depressed, and he ultimately committed suicide by gunshot.
He's been portrayed by Peter Dinklage in the HBO film My Dinner with Hervé.
Tropes in his works:
- Catchphrase: Villechaize will forever be associated with the phrase "De plane! De plane!" because that is what his character always said whenever the plane arrived at the titular Fantasy Island.
- Maurice Chevalier Accent: He spoke English with a thick French accent and, as a result, so did his characters. The catch phrase "De plane!" mentioned above is a textbook example.
- Wag the Director: Villechaize proved to be difficult on the set of Fantasy Island, often clashing with the producers, flirting with women and butting heads with co-star Ricardo Montalban. It eventually came to a head when he demanded a salary increase, which resulted in him getting fired.
