Felix Silla on the Ponderosa: Bonanza Roles

Actor, Felix Silla, is one of the "little" people who began making his living as a circus performer. He was born in a tiny village outside Rome, Italy in 1937 and came to the USA in 1955. Hooking up with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Show, he started out in the sideshow, learning the English language and becoming adept as a bareback rider, trapeze artist and tumbler. He landed in Hollywood and began working as a stuntman.

The 3' 11" stuntman branched out into acting and first appeared in the 1963 sitcom "Grindl," starring comic actress, Imogene Coca. He was in the episode "Twas the Week Before Christmas," which also featured Paul Lynde. His second credited role as an actor was in the fifth season of the TV Western, "Bonanza."

Felix Silla was on the Ponderosa in "Hoss and the Leprechauns" (1963). He and four other little actors played circus performers who are wearing green outfits that make them look like leprechauns. What's more -- they just happen to have "a pot of gold." Hoss comes upon one of the "leprechauns" who has been chased up a tree by a bear, but the "little feller" runs away instead of thanking him. Hoss finds the pot of gold (it's really a strong box), and has quite a time trying to explain to Ben, Adam and Little Joe how he found it after seeing a "little green man." When 5 little green men break into the Cartwrights' home and retrieve their gold, again only Hoss sees them.

Back in Virginia City, Professor James Aloysius McCarthy, the leprechaun troupe's Irish manager, (played by Sean McClory) is trying to round up his renegade performers. When he hears everyone making fun of Hoss, he knows he's caught up with them. McCarthy tells Hoss in the saloon that if he had caught a leprechaun, the little guy would have gladly given Hoss his gold to keep in exchange for freedom. This revelation sends the townsfolk on a stampede to catch a leprechaun. The next one to see the leprechauns is Professor McCarthy, but Sean (Felix Silla) hits him over the head with a stick. You can tell which one is Sean (Felix) because he is the shortest and youngest looking of the 5 little green men. This is really one of the gems of the "Bonanza" series, and it is hilarious to watch the 5 little acrobats beat up all the Cartwright boys.

Felix is one of two credited actors who are still alive in this episode.

After this role, Felix Silla went on to play several roles that you may know very well, but may not know it was Felix. He often doubled for children in movies such as "The Hindenberg" (1974) and "The Towering Inferno" (1975). He even played a child gorilla in 1968's "Planet of the Apes." Frank Delfino and Harry Monty, who were leprechauns along with Felix in "Hoss and the Leprechauns," were also in this film as gorilla children.

Felix was an Ewok in "Return of the Jedi" (1983) and the Emperor Penguin in "Batman Returns" (1992). The role he is most famous for is Gomez Addams' hairy little cousin, "Cousin Itt" of the television comedy, "The Addams Family." Many other TV roles included an alien in "Married with Children," a goblin in "Bewitched," Lucifer in "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," and Twiki in "Battlestar Galactica." (See Felix' picture - bidi bidi bidi).

Felix Silla was almost killed while working as the stunt double for "Short Round" in "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom" (1984). It is Felix in the river rapids scene. When the life raft he was riding in flipped over, he was trapped underneath it, underwater. The inflatable life vest he had on was defective and he came close to drowning. Fortunately, a safety diver was able to reach him and get him out.

In 1975, he played "Litvak," a mini-Hitler type, the demented enemy of Sam Spade, Jr. in "The Black Bird". George Segal played the role of the son of Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogart's character in 1941's "The Maltese Falcon"). Felix has said that "Litvak" was his favorite role.

Sources: IMDB and Wikipedia