Editing Hervé Villechaize (section)

==Career==
Villechaize initially worked as an artist, painter, and photographer. He began acting in [[Off-Broadway]] productions, including Werner Liepolt's ''The Young Master Dante'' and a play by [[Sam Shepard]], and he also modelled for photos for ''[[National Lampoon (magazine)|National Lampoon]]'' before moving on to film.{{Citation needed|date=October 2018}}

His first film appearance was in ''[[Chappaqua (film)|Chappaqua]]'' (1966). His second film was [[Edward Summer]]'s ''Item 72-D: The Adventures of Spa and Fon'', filmed in 1969.<ref>{{cite news|author=IMDB |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0198570/combined |title= Item 72-D: The Adventures of Spa and Fon |publisher=IMDB |date= n.d.|access-date=November 30, 2012 | location=USA}}</ref> This was followed by several films, including ''[[The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight (film)|The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight]]'' (1971); Christopher Speeth and Werner Liepolt's ''[[Malatesta's Carnival of Blood]]'' (1973); ''[[Crazy Joe (film)|Crazy Joe]]'' (1974); and Oliver Stone's first film, ''[[Seizure (film)|Seizure]]'' (1974). He was asked to play a role in [[Alejandro Jodorowsky]]'s film ''[[Dune (Jodorowsky film)|Dune]]'', which had originally begun pre-production in 1971, but was later cancelled.

Villechaize's big break was being cast in ''[[The Man with the Golden Gun (film)|The Man with the Golden Gun]]'' (1974), by which time he had become so poor that he was living in his car in Los Angeles. Prior to being signed by Bond producer [[Albert R. Broccoli]], he made ends meet by working as a rat catcher's assistant near his [[South Los Angeles|South Central]] home. From what his co-star [[Christopher Lee]] saw, ''The Man with the Golden Gun'' filming was possibly the happiest time of Villechaize's life; Lee likened it to honey in the sandwich between an insecure past and an uncertain future.

In the 1970s, Villechaize performed [[Oscar the Grouch]] on ''[[Sesame Street]]'' as a pair of legs peeping out from Oscar's [[Sesame Street (fictional location)#Oscar the Grouch's Trash Can|trash can]], for scenes that required Oscar to be mobile. These appearances began in the third season, and included the 1978 [[Hawaii]] episodes.

In 1980, Cleveland International Records released a single by the Children of the World, featuring Villechaize as vocalist: "Why", with [[B-side]] "When a Child Is Born".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/Children-Of-The-World-Why/release/13022999 |date=1980 |title=Children Of The World (2) – Why |work=[[Discogs]] |access-date=March 15, 2021 |url-status=live |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20210228074710/https://www.discogs.com/Children-Of-The-World-Why/release/13022999 |archivedate=February 28, 2021}}</ref>

Though popular with the public, Villechaize proved a difficult actor on ''[[Fantasy Island]]'', where he continually propositioned women and quarreled with the producers. He was eventually fired after demanding a salary on par with that of his co-star [[Ricardo Montalbán]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Fantasy Island Actors you may not Know Passed Away |author=Paul Gaita |url=https://www.looper.com/601307/fantasy-island-actors-you-may-not-know-passed-away/ |publisher=[[Looper (website)|Looper]] |date=September 11, 2021 |accessdate=September 27, 2021}}</ref> For its final season from '83-'84, Villechaize was replaced by [[Christopher Hewett]], best known for his lead role in the sitcom ''[[Mr. Belvedere]]''.

Villechaize also starred in the movie ''[[Forbidden Zone]]'' (1980), and appeared in ''[[Airplane II: The Sequel]]'' (1982), and episodes of ''[[Diff'rent Strokes]]'' and ''[[Taxi (TV series)|Taxi]]''. He later played the title role in the "[[List of Faerie Tale Theatre episodes|Rumpelstiltskin]]" episode of [[Shelley Duvall]]'s ''[[Faerie Tale Theatre]]''. In the 1980s, he became popular in Spain due to his impersonations of Prime Minister [[Felipe González]] on the television show ''Viaje con nosotros'' (''Travel with Us''), with showman [[Javier Gurruchaga]]. His final appearance was a [[cameo appearance|cameo]] as himself in an episode of ''[[The Ben Stiller Show]]''.