Hollywood's Short Bus of physically unique actors
The Tall, the Short, and the Heavy.
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Ted Cassidy was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and raised in Philippi, West Virginia. He was a well respected actor who portrayed many different characters during his film and television career. His most notable role was Lurch, the faithful butler on the television series The Addams Family (1964). His most memorable dialogue as Lurch would be, "You rang?", whenever someone summoned him. Due to his large size, (6ft. 9in.) he portrayed larger than life characters. His deep voice, was used for narrations and for dubbing certain character's voices. His acting career spanned three decades. Ted Cassidy died in 1979 from complications following open-heart surgery. His live-in girlfriend had his remains cremated, then buried in the backyard of their Woodland Hills home.- Actor
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Peter Mayhew was born on May 19, 1944 in Barnes, London, England, to Constance Elizabeth (Yeates) and Walter Henry Mayhew. Later resident in Texas, this former resident of Yorkshire, England, was working as a hospital attendant at the King's College Hospital in London when film producer Charles H. Schneer saw his photo, literally standing above the crowd around him. Schneer cast him in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977), Ray Harryhausen's special effects film.
A year later, he was offered another role. Mayhew was told it was for a big hairy beast. It was the role of Chewbacca, the faithful 200 year-old Wookiee in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) and his life was changed forever. Following the original Star Wars trilogy, he made several television commercials in the Wookiee costume.
In 1997, the 20th-anniversary celebrations of Star Wars were announced with the release of the "Special Edition" and all the conventions started. He was active on the "Star Wars" convention circuit where he signed autographs. He wrote two books, "Growing Up Giant" and "My Favorite Giant", and founded a non-profit 501(c)3 charity organization called "The Peter Mayhew Foundation".- Actor
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Towering 7' 2" tall actor who cornered the market on playing giants, intimidating henchmen, bayou swamp monsters and steel toothed villains! Kiel worked in numerous jobs including as a night club bouncer and a cemetery plot salesman, before breaking into film & TV in several minor roles in the late 1950s / early 1960s. Noted among these was the alien "Kanamit" in the classic The Twilight Zone (1959) episode "To Serve Man", and terrorizing Arch Hall Jr. while clad in a loincloth in the prehistoric caveman meets virile teenage drama Eegah (1962).
Kiel turned up in two episodes of the classic horror TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974). On one occasion playing a Native American evil spirit with the ability to transform into various animals. On his second appearance, Kiel was unrecognizable as a Spanish moss covered, Louisiana swamp monster brought to life by a patient involved in deep sleep therapy.
However, his biggest break came in 1977 when he was cast as the unstoppable, steel toothed henchman "Jaws" in the finest Roger Moore film of the Bond series The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). Such was Kiel's popularity with movie audiences, that his character was brought back for the next Bond outing Moonraker (1979). However, audiences were quite split on opinions when Kiel's "Jaws" character changes sides near the film's conclusion and assists 007, Roger Moore, in saving the Earth.
Over the next few years, Kiel appeared in relatively non-demanding comedy or fantasy type films taking advantage of his physical stature and presence. Kiel then decided to try his hand behind the camera and co-wrote and produced, plus took the lead role, in the well received family movie The Giant of Thunder Mountain (1990). Demand for Kiel's unique attributes dropped very sharply in the 1990's, leading to only a handful of roles including reprising his "Jaws" character in the Matthew Broderick film Inspector Gadget (1999). In 2002, Kiel penned his informative autobiography entitled "Making it BIG in the movies". He passed away in 2014.- Actress
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Linda Hunt is a veteran character actress who had only just begun acting in motion pictures when director Peter Weir required her peculiarities to animate one of cinema's most esoteric characters, Billy Kwan, the intellectual and virtuous Chinese-Australian dwarf and photographer, in the Australian romantic drama, The Year of Living Dangerously (1982). Hunt's work in the film earned an Oscar, among many critic awards, all for Best Supporting Actress.- Actress
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Meredith Eaton is well known for her breakout recurring role as feisty attorney Bethany Horowitz, on the ABC hit series Boston Legal (2004). Meredith has also guest starred on several critically acclaimed prime time shows, such as House (2004), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999), and Without a Trace (2002).
Prior to her role on Boston Legal (2004), Meredith was best known for her role of Emily Resnick, the spitfire attorney on the CBS prime time drama, Family Law (1999). Other memorable roles have been on NYPD Blue (1993) and Dharma & Greg (1997).
Meredith Hope Eaton was born and raised on the south shore of Long Island, New York. Her mother is a clinical psychoanalyst and her father, a retired governor appointed administrative law judge. After graduating from Hofstra University with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Theater, Meredith completed her Master's Degree in Clinical Psychology with a 4.0 grade point average from the prestigious Derner Institute Of Psychoanalysis at Adelphi University.
Meredith's breakthrough acting opportunity came when she learned that there was an open casting call for a feature film that was looking for a short-stature actress to star in a leading role alongside Kathy Bates and Rupert Everett. Meredith landed the role over 500 women who auditioned from the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. The movie, Unconditional Love (2002) has become a cult classic.
Her performance as Emily Resnick on Family Law (1999) has earned her much public recognition, including a MAC award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a drama, as well as winner of "Best New Cast Addition For A Television Series" from Pop Matters. Meredith has also garnered accolades for her role on Boston Legal (2004), including being named one of the Fall, 2006 top "Dramatic Debuts" by Yahoo! TV, and earning "Must Watch" pick by the influential magazine, Entertainment Weekly.- Actress
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Lisa Hammond was born on 2 June 1983 in Chichester, Sussex, England, UK. She is an actress and writer, known for Quills (2000), The Rubbish World of Dave Spud (2019) and EastEnders (1985).- Actor
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He was a scene-stealer par excellence who exemplified triumph over adversity. The actor born as Clark Tinsley Middleton made a success of his profession though afflicted with crippling juvenile rheumatoid arthritis from the age of four. There were frequent recurring bouts of the ailment affecting his hands, arms and hips. In 1997, he related his struggles in an autobiographical one-man play, Miracle Mile, which he performed off-Broadway. Despite diminutive size and almost complete lack of neck movement, Middleton began performing in amateur dramatics while still at junior college and became determined to make a proper career of it. He later quit university in Arizona and at the age of 25 moved to New York to study acting under Uta Hagen and then Geraldine Page (who became his mentor) at the Mirror Repertory Theater. He then spent 15 years on stage with the New York Shakespeare Festival, the Circle Repertory Theater, the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and various regional theatres before making his screen debut in 1983.
At first, he experienced difficulties being cast. In his own words: "They don't know what to do with me. I'm limited not by what I can do, but by what people see me as." Nevertheless, in the course of his all-too-brief career, Middleton managed to create a fascinating array of feisty, memorable characters, especially in the genre of science fiction. He is perhaps best known as James Spader's grumpy DMV tracker Glenn 'Jelly Bean' Carter in The Blacklist (2013). Equally good value was his recurring role in Fringe (2008) as an eccentric dealer in rare, antiquarian books whose esoteric knowledge often tended to prove vitally important. He made a briefer appearance in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2013) as Pretorious Pryce, an officious customs inspector on the planet of Kitson and was Sherilyn Fenn's perennially tired accountant husband in Twin Peaks (2017). Add to that a host of small movie character parts in high profile releases like Serendipity (2001), Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004), Sin City (2005) and Snowpiercer (2013).
A lifelong member of the Actor's Studio, Clark Middleton died unexpectedly at the age of 63 from the mosquito-borne disease West Nile Virus.- Actor
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Kenny Baker was born on 24 August 1934 in Birmingham, England, UK. He was an actor, known for Time Bandits (1981), Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and The Elephant Man (1980). He was married to Eileen Baker. He died on 13 August 2016 in Preston, Lancashire, England, UK.- Actor
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Felix Silla was born on January 11, 1937 in a small village outside Rome, Lazio, Italy. Silla trained as a circus performer, came to the United States in 1955, and toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Show. His multiple talents -- as a bareback rider, trapeze artist and tumbler -- brought him to Hollywood where he became a stuntman, starting with the Gig Young-Shirley Jones vehicle, A Ticklish Affair (1963).
His best-known roles are the maniacal, miniature "Hitler" who menaces George Segal in The Black Bird (1975) and Cousin Itt on The Addams Family (1964). He had doubled -- often for children -- in such hits as The Towering Inferno (1974), The Hindenburg (1975) and Battlestar Galactica (1978). Between movies, he frequently appears in Las Vegas and Reno nightclubs with his own musical combo, "The Original Harmonica Band".
Silla and wife Sue Silla -- a "little person", like himself -- were married from 1965 until Felix's death on April 16, 2021, and had three children, Bonnie, Michael and Diana.- Actor
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With a decades-long career as an actor and stuntman, Verne Troyer was best known for playing "Mini-Me," Dr. Evil's smaller and more concentrated pure evil protégé, in the hit comedies Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999) and Austin Powers in Goldmember (2002), and for his role in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001). Troyer, born in Sturgis, Michigan, had always dreamed of getting into showbiz. Shortly after his high school graduation in 1987, he moved with some friends to Arlington, Texas, where, in 1993, he got his first break as a stunt double for a 9-month-old baby on the film Baby's Day Out (1994). In his early years of film and television work, he often portrayed animals or small children.- Actor
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Diminutive 2'9" actor and circus performer Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros was born in 1939 in Budapest, Hungary. Meszaros performed for the Hungarian National Circus prior to coming to America in the 1970s. Not surprisingly, he portrayed circus midgets in both "Big Top Pee-wee" and "Warlock: The Armageddon." Mihaly was best known for donning the furry full body costume as the titular rascally extraterrestrial on the hugely popular 1980s sitcom "ALF" in scenes that featured the little creature walking, running, or standing in complete view. He also appeared on the TV shows "H.R. Pufnstuf" and "Dear John." He performed stunts for the hit comedy "Look Who's Talking." In addition, Meszaros was the tiny butler Hans in the nifty horror flick "Waxworks" and the grotesquely mutated George Ramirez in the hilariously wacky cult favorite "Freaked." Moreover, Mihaly was a member of Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus. His hobbies included drinking scotch and smoking giant cigars. Meszaros died at age 76 after falling into a coma on June 13, 2016.- Actor
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Jorge Garcia (born April 28, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He first came to public attention with his performance as Hector Lopez on the television show Becker (1998), but probably more known later for his portrayal of Hugo "Hurley" Reyes in the television series Lost (2004) from 2004 to 2010. Garcia also performs as a stand-up comedian. He more recently starred in the FOX television series Alcatraz (2012), as well as playing a minor character on ABC's Once Upon a Time (2011). He stars as Jerry Ortega on Hawaii Five-0 (2010). Most recently Jorge Garcia can be seen in the Netflix original movie The Ridiculous 6 (2015).- Actress
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Gabourey "Gabby" Sidibe, the star of Precious (2009), was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant community in Brooklyn, New York. Her mother, Alice Tan Ridley, is a former special education teacher who gave up her career and became a street performer/singer, while her father, Ibnou Sidibe, is a cab driver. Her mother is African-American and her father is Senegalese. Her parents split when she was a youngster and Gabby grew up in Harlem. Though she was cast in school plays as a child, Sidibe had no interest in acting. She had witnessed her mother's financial struggles as a street singer and wanted the security that an education and a desk job would give her. After attending local colleges, Gabby pursued a degree in psychology at Mercy College. She was in the middle of preparing for an exam when a friend phoned her about an audition for the newest effort from Lee Daniels, Precious (2009).
Instead of attending class, she ended up being cast in the title role as Claireece "Precious" Jones, a taciturn, sixteen year-old who is pregnant for the second time after being raped by her father and is also on the receiving end of constant physical abuse by her mother. As grim as the subject matter is, Precious (2009) has become critical success and a source of inspiration for many. While her co-stars, Mo'Nique and Mariah Carey have both received a great deal of critical attention, it is Gabby who is the revelation as Precious, a character whose personality is quite different from her own. Anyone expecting a damaged young woman with no self-esteem is in for a shock after meeting the charming Sidibe. She hopes that her success in the film will motivate others to chase their dreams.
Precious (2009) has opened other doors for Sidibe. She has also completed shooting Yelling to the Sky (2011), a project from the Sundance Lab that also stars Zoë Kravitz and has other projects in the works.- Actress
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Christine Michelle Metz is an American actress and singer. She played Kate Pearson in the television series This Is Us (2016-2022), which earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. She has also appeared in films such as Sierra Burgess Is a Loser (2018) and Breakthrough (2019).