Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Hair Dare: Felix Silla

Our weeklong coverage of this past weekend's Hair Dare Dukes event in Leamington, Ontario, Canada, continues ...

Felix Silla is a new face to this 6-year-old charity event. Perhaps best-known as Cousin Itt of "The Addams Family," as well as Twiki on "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century," Silla also starred in an episode of a little show we call "The Dukes of Hazzard."

BRBTV got a chance to chat with Silla a bit over the weekend, at the next table over in the fairgrounds building. Born in Rome, Silla lives in Las Vegas these days, he told us. He's had quite an amazing career, portraying everything from a Talosian on the classic "Star Trek" episode "The Cage" to a child gorilla on "Planet of the Apes" and Baby New Year on an episode of the classic "Night Gallery." Did you know he was the polka-dotted horse in "H.R. Pufnstuf"?

Silla also appeared at this year's Motor City Comic Con, where Hair Dare organizer Paul Harrington was able (after "a couple years," of asking, actually, he said) to convince him to come to Canada for the show. Silla brought an array of fun photos to sign, from many of his popular roles.



Silla poses for us outside the host hotel, the Comfort Inn of Leamington, on Friday evening.


Here, Silla gets set up at the dinner with the stars on Friday night, joined by Don Pedro Colley ("Sheriff Little"), left, and Byron Cherry ("Coy Duke").


Silla brought his own camera to the show to get some good shots. He's shown here with Billy Stephenson, a Tennessee-based singer who performed at the show, on Saturday morning before the parade got underway.


Silla's table display included his original call sheet from his episode of "The Dukes," which was called "Strange Visitor to Hazzard" and was at the tail-end of the show's run. In the episode he plays an alien visitor who hides out in the back of the General Lee as the three Duke cousins are out crabapple-picking in Skunk Hollow (believe it!). The threesome fondly call him "Little Cousin" and take him back to the Duke farm.

Silla said it took four days to shoot the episode, and it was a chilly December. The date on the call sheet is December 7, 1984. The episode aired on January 25, 1985. Silla reminisced with us about that tannish alien getup he had to wear, which included some careful matching makeup around his eyes.


(You've gotta love a call sheet that lists Flash as playing ... Flash! Rawfff!!!!!!!)

BRBTV asked if he's still got a lot of these kind of call sheets from "The Addams Family." No, actually, he doesn't, though he does have quite a few from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi," where he was an Ewok.

Silla remains in contact with his "Addams Family" co-stars. "There are only four of us left," he pointed out, himself, John Astin, "and the two kids," Lisa Loring and Ken Weatherwax.

You can learn more about Silla, and even purchase his photos, at his official website.


Photos by Billie Rae Bates / BRBTV
Copying with credit is OK; a link would be grand
More event photos can always be found in BRB's Yahoo group

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