A super-sized career

Wednesday, Jan. 18, 2006 | 9:11 a.m.

A partial list of roles played by Felix Silla:

"Galgameth" (1996) -- Little Galgy

"Batman Returns" (1992) -- Emperor Penguin

"Spaceballs" (1987) -- Dink

"Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi" (1983) -- Ewok

"Under the Rainbow" (1981) -- Hotel Rainbow Guest

"Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" TV series (1979) -- Twiki (robot)

"The Kentucky Fried Movie" (1977) -- Crazed Clown

"H.R. Pufnstuf" TV series (1969) -- Polka Dotted Horse

"Planet of the Apes" (1968) -- Child gorilla (uncredited)

"Point Blank" (1967) -- Bellhop (uncredited)

"Star Trek: The Cage" TV series (1966) -- Talosian (uncredited)

"The Addams Family" TV series (1964) -- Cousin Itt

Felix Silla stands out in a crowd.

The 3-foot-11-inch, 70-pound actor has been taking advantage of his diminutive size for more than 40 years, forging a successful career in motion pictures and television.

"My size has never really been a problem," the 69-year-old Silla said. "My only problem is reaching things -- and if I want to reach something, I will reach it."

Silla is best known as Cousin Itt, the hairy member of "The Addams Family," the offbeat TV series that premiered on ABC in 1964 and ended in 1966. The late Tony Magro provided Itt's voice.

The cast included John Astin (as Gomez Addams) and Carolyn Jones (as his wife, Morticia).

There aren't many of the major cast members left: Jones died in 1983, Jackie Coogan (Uncle Fester) died in 1984, Ted Cassidy (Lurch) died in 1979 and Blossom Rock (Grandmama Addams) died in 1978.

Ken Weatherwax and Lisa Loring, who portrayed the two Addams children, are still alive and well, as is Astin.

As is Silla, who moved to northwest Las Vegas two years ago to be near his children and grandchildren.

He and his wife of 40 years, Sue, were living in San Fernando Valley, north of Los Angeles, when they decided to make the transition.

"I love Las Vegas," Silla said. "The people here are a lot nicer than they are in San Fernando Valley. Nobody talks to you there, not even my neighbor. The only thing I don't like about Las Vegas is the way people drive. They speed, they go through red lights like they don't exist -- everyone's in too big a hurry."

Silla became disenchanted not only with his neighborhood but with the film and TV industry.

He went into semi-retirement about five years ago.

"When I started out in the business, it was like a family on the sets. Everyone got along," recalled Silla, who will be a guest on an upcoming episode of Tony Sacca's syndicated interview show "Entertainment Las Vegas Style."

But the business has changed.

"Now there's a lot of yelling and screaming and hollering," Silla said.

Silla was born in Italy, near Rome, on Jan. 11, 1937.

He immigrated to the United States in 1955, to join an older brother.

"I arrived in New York City on a ship the day before Thanksgiving," Silla said. "It was freezing cold."

He didn't know what he was going to do when he got here.

"I didn't have any goals," he said. "I just wanted to be with my brother."

Silla is the only member of his biological family who is small. Although his wife shares his height issue, his two daughters, one son and three grandchildren are all normal size.

"I have no idea why I'm so small," he said.

Being so tiny restricted his options when he landed in New York.

So did the fact that he spoke only Italian.

Silla got his first job about five months after arriving in this country -- with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circus.

"I couldn't speak English, and I met a lot of circus people who could speak Italian and Spanish," Silla said.

He became an acrobat, bareback rider, trapeze artist and tumbler with the circus, a job that lasted until 1962.

"We were in Los Angeles when I decided to quit the show," Silla said. "I went to work in the office of the man and wife who were doing publicity for the circus."

He had a gig posing as a character Commando P.O.P., promoting Pacific Oceans park in Santa Monica, when he was discovered by Hollywood.

"A gentleman from MGM studios was looking for a little person to do some stunts for a little boy in a movie called 'A Ticklish Affair,' " Silla said.

"A Ticklish Affair" (1963) was directed by the late George Sidney, who made such memorable films as "Viva Las Vegas" (1964), "Bye Bye Birdie" (1963), "Pal Joey" (1957) and "Show Boat" (1951).

Sidney was living in Las Vegas when he died in 2002.

"A Ticklish Affair," which starred Gig Young and Shirley Jones, was nominated for a Golden Globe the year it was released, but it was beaten out by "Tom Jones."

"My job was to double for a little kid that was tied to a weather balloon," Silla said.

For several hours a day during filming he was strapped into a harness and dangled from a crane to simulate being held aloft by the giant balloon.

The job led to others, and eventually Silla found himself with a career.

"It took me six or seven years to really get some meaty parts," Silla said. "I stayed busy, acting, doing stunts and being a stand-in for child actors -- when the little kids go to school during rehearsals, someone has to stand in for them and do their parts."

Silla has had some unusual jobs.

He was a stunt duck in "Howard the Duck" (1986); an Ewok in "Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi" (1983); a robot in the TV series "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979); and a child gorilla in "Planet of the Apes" (1968).

And he was a stunt double for Johnny Whitaker in the TV series "Family Affair."

He said he has no favorite roles.

"I always left everything at the studio when I went home at night," Silla said. "It was just another job for me."

Silla says he gets no residual checks from his years of working in films and TV, but he is happy with his union pension and benefits.

Most of his work these days is attending conventions, at which he signs autographs. And he has a local agent who gets him a job now and then.

"I do Christmas parties, and I've been a leprechaun," Silla said.

He's very comfortable with his stature.

"I've never had any desire to be 6 feet tall," Silla said. "I'd go around banging my head."

Jerry Fink can be reached at 259-4058 or at jerry@lasvegassun.com.