2ft 9in 'Michu' started as a circus performer

The actor who occupied the ALF costume in the 1980s sitcom has died at the age of 76.

Hungarian-born Mihaly 'Michu' Meszaros, who was 2ft 9in tall, dressed up as the alien when full-length shots were required.

Otherwise the character – an Alien Life Form who lived with a suburban family – was voiced by puppeteer Paul Fusco, who created him.

Meszaros reportedly fell into a coma last week, and had been grappling with health issues since suffering a stroke eight years ago.

Fusco was notoriously protective of his creation, refusing to acknowledge that the puppet was anything other than an alien, and everyone involved with the production was sworn to secrecy about how the show was made.

It was one factor that led to off-screen tensions on set.
Max Wright, who played the father Willie, despised supporting a technically demanding inanimate object that had all the good lines, while Andrea Elson, who played teenage daughter Lynn once said: 'If ALF had gone one more year, everybody would have lost it.'

Meszaros started performing in the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circuses of the 1970s, billed as the 'smallest man in the world' – a Guinness World Record he once held. There he developed a dog act with poodles who, when stood on their hind legs, towered over their trainer.

As well as Alf, which ran from 1986 to 1990, Meszaros's other credits included Big Top Pee-wee, the US adaptation of British sitcom Dear John and Warlock: The Armageddon. After retiring from showbusiness, he became a real estate developer.

In the 1980s the city of Hawthorne, California, named their shortest street 'Michu Lane' in his honour.

• Janet Waldo, who provided the voice for Judy Jetson in The Jetsons, has also died. She was 96 and passed away her home in Encino, California, after battling a brain tumour. Her other voiceover credits included Josie in Josie and the Pussycats and Fred Flintstone's mother-in-law in The Flintstones; while she also made sitcom appearances in shows including I Love Lucy and The Andy Griffith Show.

Published: 14 Jun 2016