Hervé Villechaize – A Little Man That Made A Big Impression With The Ladies!
By | November 2, 2017
Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize was a most unique and interesting actor and artist at heart. While he had a strong affinity for the Arts, especially acting and painting, he also dabbled in a little modeling for a time early on. Villechaize enjoyed world-wide recognition throughout his career; even being cast in movies starring Roger Moore as James Bond, the ultimate lady magnet. Although he was talented, he was very widely regarded as somewhat of a spectacle due to his physical size. Villechaize was medically considered to be a Dwarf due to an endocrine disorder but preferred to be called a midget for some reason. Ironically, his father was a doctor and devoted his career to finding a cure for the disorder but never did.
While Villechaize appeared in other notable films, he was probably best known for his portrayal of the character, Tattoo, on the television series, “Fantasy Island.” He was the unexpected, but not necessarily unpleasant, sidekick of Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban). The two of them would welcome people week after week to Fantasy Island to make all their dreams come true. If you remember the show, you remember that Villechaize coined the popular “Fantasy Island” catchphrase, "De plane! De plane!"
Being of such small stature may at times lend itself to a person, especially a man, being insecure. If Villechaize was insecure as a man, his sex life surely didn’t reflect it. He was regarded as quite the sex maniac. He was married multiple times but never stopped pursuing other women on the side. Despite being somewhat of an anomaly, there was no shortage of woman taking him up on his requests! Maybe he was attractive for being associated with James Bond; maybe women were intrigued by his unique physique; or maybe they just saw him as a “play thing.” He never denied enjoying that women wanted to “baby” him. Whatever it was, the result was that he got plenty of action which, is what he was after! SCORE!
Hervé Villechaize, at times, bragged about his sexual exploitation of women. He reportedly had sexual encounters with no less than 35 women during the filming of just one of his “Bond” movies. When Roger Moore was asked about Villechaize’s sexual antics, he was quoted as saying, “When we were in Hong Kong he would find girls in girly clubs and go with a flashlight, 'You, you, not you'.” Villechaize, however, did not deny that he paid for the company of some of those women. Being known as a womanizer was of no great concern to Villechaize. He made no apologies and most definitely took pride in his sex-capades.
Although, Villechaize realized a successful acting career and was seemingly popular with the ladies, in the end, he was best known for being a troubled individual. This realization may be one of the reasons he lived his life in such a sexually reckless way. After leaving “Fantasy Island” he struggled with professional, personal and medical problems, which ultimately caused him to take his own life in 1993 at the age of 50. Bummer!
