Cousin Itt ‘Actor On TV’s’ The Addams Family’ was 84 – Deadline

Felix Silla, best known as the gibberish-squirting cousin Itt on the 1960s TV sitcom The Addams family, died of pancreatic cancer today. He was 84 and died in Las Vegas, according to one tweet from Gil Gerard, who co-starred with him on the NBC series from 1979-81 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century

Silla wore a full-body hairpiece, sunglasses and a bowler hat to play the role of Cousin Itt, which could only be understood by members of the Addams Family, thanks to his strange murmurs. The role was one of many in which Silla’s face went unseen, including appearances as robot Twiki on Buck Rogers and as a hang gliding Ewok in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi

One role in which he appeared was that of villain Litvak, who compete against Sam Spade Jr. from George Segal in The Maltese falcon sequel The black bird (1975).

Born in Italy, Silla was just under four feet tall and weighed just under 70 pounds. He came to the US in 1955 and toured with the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus as a trapeze artist and bottlenose dolphin. He came to Hollywood in 1962 and worked as a stuntman.

His skills and small stature led to a number of roles, including the comedy film Gig Young-Shirley Jones A ticklish affair, the Bonanza delivery Hoss and the gnomes, and in the Star Trek pilot The cage in 1965.

He later appeared in Planet of the monkeys (1968), Demon Seed (1977) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984). He did stunt work in some great pictures, including ET the otherworldly, Poltergeist, The golden child and Batman returns (1992), among many other films.

On TV he performed regularly for Sid and Marty Krofft HR Pufnstuf and Lidsville

Silla debuted on The Addams family in 1965 in an episode where a zookeeper wanted to put him in a cage. The character was created by a producer and did not appear in the Charles Addams cartoons that inspired the TV series. Cousin Itt’s voice wasn’t Silla either – instead, it was provided in post-production by sound engineer Tony Magro.)

He appeared on the show 17 times as cousin Itt, who largely became a fan favorite during the endless syndication run.