Felix Silla, Cousin Itt on 'The Addams Family,' Dies at 84

hollywoodreporter.com ^ | April 16, 2021 | Mike Barnes

[lowbridge]

Felix Silla, who worked inside a body-length hairpiece, behind a pair of sunglasses and underneath a bowler hat in his guise as the mumbling Cousin Itt on the 1960s ABC comedy The Addams Family, has died. He was 84.

Silla, a longtime Las Vegas resident, died Friday after a battle with pancreatic cancer, his friend Gil Gerard, his co-star on the 1979-81 NBC series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, reported on Twitter.

Silla's face went unseen on The Addams Family, as the robot sidekick Twiki on Buck Rogers and when he was a hang-gliding Ewok in Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983).

And in a notable role where he could actually be recognized, the Italian actor and stuntman shaved his head to portray the maniacal villain Litvak opposite George Segal as Sam Spade Jr. in The Maltese Falcon sequel The Black Bird (1975).

A hair under 4 feet tall and weighing 70 pounds, Silla showed up for the first time on The Addams Family in 1965 in the series' 20th episode when a zookeeper mistakes Cousin Itt for an exotic animal and wants to put him in a cage.

(The character was the idea of a producer and was not in the Charles Addams' cartoons on which the series was based, and Cousin Itt's voice on the show was provided by sound engineer Tony Magro in postproduction.)

[GreenHornet]

John Astin is still kicking, thank God.

John Astin, who turned 91 on March 30th, and Lisa Loring (Wednesday Addams) are the only cast members still alive.

[fieldmarshaldj]

RIP.