In Memoriam

Felix Silla was born 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), Cousin Itt on The Addams Family (1964), Twiki on Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, and Ewok in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). He had doubled in such hits as The Towering Inferno (1974), The Hindenburg (1975) and Battlestar Galactica (1978). Between movies, he frequently appeared in Las Vegas and Reno night clubs with his own musical combo, "The Original Harmonica Band".