The Sad Story Behind Nick Nack From The Man With The Golden Gun

Hervé Jean-Pierre Villechaize was best known for his two most famous roles – Tattoo, the sidekick to Ricardo Montalban’s Mr. Roarke in ‘Fantasy Island’, and as Nick Nack, diminutive henchman to Christopher Lee’s Scaramanga in 'The Man With The Golden Gun’.

And though both roles were to some extent dependent on their whimsical nature, in real life Villechaize was something of a tortured soul.

Born in Nazi-occupied Paris in 1943, he was raised in the city by his mother and surgeon father, who was a resistance fighter during World War Two.

But he was bullied at school because of his size – due to an acute thyroid condition, which caused proportionate dwarfism – meaning that he peaked at three feet, 11 inches.

He sought solace in his talent for painting, and enrolled in the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts aged just 16, becoming the youngest ever artist to have his work exhibited at the Museum of Paris, at 18.

He moved to New York in the mid-60s, aged 21, teaching himself English from watching television, and dabbling in acting off Broadway, and while a handful of parts came his way – notably in the comedy 'The Gang That Couldn’t Shoot Straight’ with Robert DeNiro – a move to Los Angeles saw his fortunes falter.

He was forced to live in his car, and worked for a time as an assistant to a rat catcher in the notorious South Central district, but a fortunate meeting with Albert R. 'Cubby’ Broccoli landed him the role of Nick Nack, intended to be a miniature version of Oddjob from 'Goldfinger’.

Nick Nack’s character was given the dubious honour of being the only Bond henchman to be captured rather than killed.

The role transformed his career, and his part in 'Fantasy Island’ came a couple of years later, the show running for six years, with his part of Tattoo noted for his catchphrase 'De plane! De plane!’, hollered from the bell tower as guests arrived at Roarke’s island to fulfil their fantasies.

The show also made him rich, earning $25,000 per episode and place in US pop culture.

But he was fired before its final season in 1983 after demanding that he be paid as much as Montalban, and following accusations he had propositioned women and clashed with producers.

Roger Moore recently broached the subject of Villechaize’s womanising, while speaking to the Daily Mirror, in which he said his co-star claimed to have slept with 45 women during the two month shoot on ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’.

“When we were shooting in Bangkok and Hong Kong, he would go to the girly clubs with a flashlight,” claimed Moore.

“He’d line the girls up and run the torch up across them, each in turn, saying: ‘I like you. And you. Not you’.”

'Fantasy Island’ was eventually cancelled, and while Villechaize made a few appearances in movies like 'Airplane II: The Sequel’ and TV shows like 'Taxi’, 'The Larry Sanders Show’ and 'Diff'rent Strokes’, his career never quite recovered, his last recorded TV appearance being in 'The Ben Stiller Show’ in 1992.

He did book work in adverts for Dunkin’ Donuts the following year, but they required him to revisit his old 'Fantasy Island’ catchphrase – adapted to 'de plain, de plain’, referring to the plain donuts – something that he wanted to distance himself from.

Suffering depression, issues with alcohol and other health problems, he nearly died of pneumonia that same year. He also suffered chronic pain and breathing problems because of his normal sized organs in a smaller body. His longtime girlfriend Kathy Self said that he had to sleep in a kneeling position so that he could breathe properly, and as a result he became dependent on pain-killers.

Unable to live with the pain he was suffering any longer, on September 4, 1993, he recorded suicide note to Kathy on a tape recorder at his home in North Hollywood.

“Kathy, I can’t live like this anymore. I’ve always been a proud man and always wanted to make you proud of me. You know you made me feel like a giant and that’s how I want you to remember me,” he said.

“I’m doing what I have to do… I want everything to go to Kathy… I want everyone to know that I love them.”

He then shot himself through the chest with a pistol, using pillows to muffle the sound, as Kathy was sleeping in the next room. He was found, but died that same afternoon at the Medical Center of North Hollywood, aged 50.

A movie, starring 'Game of Thrones’ star Peter Dinklage, called 'My Dinner With Hervé’, has been in development for several years, behind it filmmaker Sacha Gervasi, who had conducted lengthy interviews with Villechaize.

Kathy is working as a consultant on the project.

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Image credits: Rex Features