Felix Silla, who played the mysterious and hairy cousin Itt on ‘The Addams Family’, has died after a battle with pancreatic cancer.
Felix passed away in Las Vegas on Friday afternoon … according to Gil Gerard, Felix’s co-star in the old NBC series “Buck Rogers in the 25th Century.”
Gil says he is sad to see his friend lose his battle with cancer, but he is glad that Felix is no longer suffering.
Although we never saw his face on the show … Felix was very famous for playing the mumbling cousin Itt in the 1960s sitcom. For the little ones, he wore sunglasses, a hat and a piece of hair that covered his entire body. The audience never understood what he was saying, but members of the Addams family.
Silla also did not get any face time as Buck Rogers’ robot partner Twiki, or as a hang-flying Ewok in ‘Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi’ … but people knew him because he was barely 4 feet tall tall and weighed about 70 pounds.
Felix did play at least one famous role where he actually showed his trophy … in 1975 he shaved his head to prosecute the evil Litvak in the sequel ‘The Black Bird’ in ‘The Maltese Falcon’.
Felix, born and bred in Italy, moved to the United States in 1955 and joined Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus toured.
Felix has made films on ‘ET the Extra-Terrestrial’, ‘Batman Returns’ and ‘Poltergeist’, among others … and has also appeared in the OG ‘Planet of the Apes’ and ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom’. “
Silla was 84 and is survived by his wife of over 55 years, Sue, and their children, Bonnie and Michael.
TEAR