- Born
- Died
- Birth nameFelix Anthony Silla
- Height3′ 11″ (1.19 m)
- 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.
- IMDb mini biography by: R.M. Sieger (updated)
- SpouseSue Silla(1965 - April 16, 2021) (his death, 2 children)
- ChildrenDiana
- ParentsGaetana SillaFelice Silla
- Was almost killed while working as the stunt double for "Short Round" in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) during the filming of the river rapids scene. The life raft in which he was riding flipped over in the turbulent water and he was trapped underneath it for some time with a faulty inflatable life vest, nearly drowning until a safety diver could reach him and pull him to safety.
- His audition for his most famous role, television's "Cousin Itt" of The Addams Family (1964), was as mysterious to him at the time as the popular character would soon be to millions of viewers. Arriving at the studio, he received little more than a quick looking over by the director and producer, who merely said "That's Itt!" and told him to come back Monday morning and report for work. He returned home for the weekend, pleased to have passed the audition but still completely unaware of who (or what) he had been hired to portray on The Addams Family (1964). Not until Monday morning, just hours before he made his debut as "Cousin Itt", did he have any idea as to the nature of the character.
- Met Claire Brennen on the set of She Freak (1967). They had a nine-year relationship and managed to keep this a secret for all of those years despite the fact that she bore him a son.
- Although the character of "Cousin Itt" did not debut on The Addams Family (1964) until over a third of the way through the entire series, Silla's delightfully odd and inspired performance of the character made him so popular that "Cousin Itt" was carried over into both the animated series and the motion picture versions of "The Addams Family", even though the character was a creation of television producer David Levy and not part of the original Charles Addams cartoons (neither was the character of "Thing").
- His favorite role is that of "Litvak", the maniacal adversary of George Segal in the mystery parody The Black Bird (1975).
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content
