Herve Villechaize Movies

Zalman King wrote and directed this soft-core Harlequinesque Romance that plays like Tennessee Williams meets Fredericks of Hollywood. April Delongpre (Sherilyn Fenn) is the daughter of a powerful senator and heiress to an old and respectable Southern family. April is engaged to marry the granite-handsome Chad Douglas Fairchild (Martin Hewitt) within a few days. But Chad has gone to Tuscaloosa to sign papers for their condo and the rest of the family has headed off to the lake, leaving April in the house alone with nothing to do except take long and languid showers--until she sets her eyes on the pecs of carnival roustabout Perry (Richard Tyson). Soon the two are making tasteful love in every nook and cranny of April's mansion. Unfortunately for the two sexual athletes, April's grandmother (Louise Fletcher) has assigned the local sheriff (Burl Ives) to keep an eye on her. And an eye on her he keeps, so that during the wedding ceremony, he has quite a story to tell. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide

Ricardo Montalban is as suave, poised and mysterious as ever in the role of Mr. Roarke, owner of a lush tropical resort where dreams literally come true, as Fantasy Island launches its sixth season. Also on hand is dwarf actor Herve Villechaize as Roarke's versatile assistant Tattoo--but not for long. Having made several public pronouncements about his dissatisfaction over the size and conent his role, and beset by numerous health and emotional problems, Villechaize would exit the series at season's end. The Season Six opener is a supremely typical effort, with the series' setting and its two main stars acting as the link between two separate stories, one concerning a mousy secretary (Pamela Hensley) whose fantasy is to turn the tables on her overbearing boss, and the other revolving around a tormented husband (Stuart Whitman) who insists he wants to purge himself of the impulse to murder his wife. In a subsequent episode, frequent guest star Roddy McDowall returns, but not in his by-now-familiar role as the demonic Mephistopheles; ironically, though, McDowell shows up in an episode which features a lovelorn angel named Michael (Gary Collins). Among the many other guest stars this season include all-purpose entertainer Sammy Davis Jr., nightclub entrepreneur Mickey Gilley, country singer Loretta Lynn, soap opera diva Susan Lucci, 1950s favorite Sandra Dee, impressionist Rich Little, and the husband-wife team of Steve Allen and Jayne Meadows The season's penultimate episode serves up the standard usual comedy-drama combo, with one subplot starring Bob Denver and Paul Kreppel as successful but bored ladies' men who desire to meet girls resistant to their charms (!), and the other one headlining Britt Eklund as a desperate woman who wants to meet the sister who was separated from her at birth. The final Season Six endeavor, which also serves as Herve Villechaize's swan song, is Fantasy Island's only "cheater", in which Roarke tries to cheer up a seriously injured Tattoo by conjuring up filmclips from past series episodes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

With the Jerry Zucker-Jim Abrahams-David Zucker team absent, this sequel to the cash-cow 1980 spoof Airplane once again finds garrulous man-with-a-past Ted Striker (Robert Hays) compelled to take over the controls of crippled aircraft, all the while trying to patch up his relationship with stewardess Elaine (Julie Hagerty). This time, the first passenger space shuttle is launched into orbit -- and takes off for the moon - but the on-board computer malfunctions and sends the craft hurtling toward the sun, threatening the lives of everyone on board. Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves return from the first Airplane, while William Shatner, Chad Everett, Sonny Bono, Raymond Burr and Chuck Conners join the cast, as they too lampoon their established images. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The lavish "wish-fulfillment" TV series Fantasy Island enters it fourth season with the mysterious Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) and his mercurial aide Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) still making dreams come true for the various and sundry visitors to Roarke's lavish island resort. New to the series is Wendy Schaal), who is seen in a handful of episodes as Roarke's goddaughter Julie. If there were any doubts that Roarke was no mere entrepreneur, but instead possessed magical and even mystical powers, those doubts are dispelled in the season opener, in which Roarke enables a terrified woman (Carol Lynley) to break the bargain she has made with the Devil Himself, or, as he is known hereabouts, Mephistopholes (played by Roddy McDowell). This would not be Roarke's last dust-up with Satan, as proven later in the season in the rare half-hour episode "Possessed". The "fantasy" element of Fantasy Island is delved into even further in the Season Four episodes wherein a mermaid (Michelle Phillips) dreams of being human, Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) is endowed with the artistic talent of Toulouse-Lautrec, and Julie begs Roarke to revoke her own magic powers so that she can have a "normal" marriage. This year's guest-star lineup includes Ross Martin, Tom Wopat, Charlene Tilton, Loni Anderson, Lyle Waggoner, Bobby Sherman, Peter Marshall, Jerry Van Dyke, Ann Jillian, Joe Namath and Jimmy Dean. The longest entry this season is the 90-minute "Skater's Edge/Concerto of Death/The Last Great Death", which, per its title, features three rather two separate plotlines, and boasts a guest roster including skating star Peggy Fleming, Dick Shawn, Juliet Mills, Jack Carter and Bradford Dillman. Season Four ends with a standard hour-long effort, in which a poor Mexican family is allowed by Roarke bypass the usual $50,000 fee in order to give their son the "best birthday ever", while at the same time a timid woman "inherits" a romantic fantasy from a deceased relative. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Entering its third season as America's 22nd most popular series (not bad for an hour-long semi-anthology in a year dominated by sitcoms!), Fantasy Island indulges its fondness for the bizarre and offbeat with an opening episode wherein David Doyle plays an impoverished chap whose "fantasy" is to be murdered by a hit man so that his family can collect his insurance! While the enigmatic Mr. Roarke (Ricardo Montalban) and his diminutive sidekick Tattoo (Herve Villechaize) are for the most part noncommittal "stage managers" while fulfilling the innermost wishes of their clients, from time to time this season the viewer is afforded intensely personal glimpses of the two main characters. For example, after many impassioned requests, Tattoo is granted his own fantasy of being a "chick magnet"; and in a later episode, Tattoo develops a serious crush on one the Island's guests, aspiring country singer Audrey Landers. And in the rare single-plotline episode "The Wedding", it looks as though Mr. Roarke will finally tie the knot with the great love of his life, Helen Marsh (Samantha Eggar)--a story development that ,alas, ends in shattering tragedy. Other guest stars this season are a fascinating mixture indeed, including Adrienne Barbeau (who'd been seen in the second feature-length Fantasy Island pilot episode back in 1978), Dale Robertson, Doris Roberts, Barbi Benton, Donna Mills, Don Adams, David Cassidy, Robert Goulet, Annette Funicello, Joan Collins and Sugar Ray Robinson. The finale, "The Eagleman/The Children of Menta", finds single dad Bob Denver aspiring to bond with his young son by becoming a comic-book superhero, and journalism student Vernee Watson being afforded the opportunity to expose the most shocking news story of the century. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Ranking 17th in the overall ratings for its brief first season on the air, Fantasy Island was a shoe-in for renewal for a full second season on ABC. Ricardo Montalban and Herve Villechaize return respectively as the enigmatic Mr. Roarke and his excitable dwarf assistant Tattoo, who hold court over a lavish resort island where guests can have their most cherished wishes, hopes and dreams fulfilled--for a flat rate of 50 grand per head! The season opens with a standard "dual-story" episode, one comic and one serious, as nerdish Arte Johnson) fulfills his desire to be a shiek with a well-stocked harem, while former Vietnam MIA David Birney is nervously reunited with the loved ones who'd assumed that he'd been killed. Other guest stars appearing in Season Two run the gamut from current teen idols to seasoned veterans of Hollywood 's Golden Age: Sonny Bono, Vivian Blaine, John Astin, Celeste Holm, Desi Arnaz Jr., Gloria DeHaven, Ken Berry, Anne Francis, Connie Stevens, Troy Donahue, Phil Silvers, Mamie van Doren, Maureen McCormick, Lisa Hartman, Florence Henderson, Janet Leigh, Toni Tenille, Billy Barty, Roddy McDowell and Scott Baio. Perhaps the most poignant guest appearance is that of Samantha Eggar, cast as Helen Marsh, who would ultimately turn out to be the great love of the mysterious Mr. Roarke 's life. Most episodes this season follow the traditional hour-long, two-story format. There are however, two exceptions to this rule. Both "Let the Goodtimes Roll/Nightmare/The Tiger" and "Pentagram/A Little Ball/And Casting Director" run 90 minutes and feature three individual plotlines--and both, significantly, were originally shown during the traditional ratings "sweeps" weeks, on November 4, 1978 and February 17, 1979, respectively. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

First telecast January 14, 1977, the feature-length pilot episode of producer Aaron Spelling's Fantasy Island introduces Ricardo Montalban as the enigmatic Mr. Roarke and dwarf actor Herve Villechaize as his resourceful assistant Tattoo, along with an impressive array of guest stars playing the various vacationers who, for $50,000 a head, are permitted to fulfill their fondest wishes at the lavish and mysterious resort known as Fantasy Island. In this opening installment, an ageing WW2 correspondent (ill Bixby) gets to relive the romance he encountered during the London blitz, and confront the possibility that he once committed murder; an arrogant woman of wealth (Eleanor Parker) finds out what people really think of her by attending her own funeral; and in a twist on the old "Most Dangerous Game" formula, a big-game hunter (Hugh O'Brian) finds out what it is like to be the hunted. This two-hour extravaganza was followed on January 20, 1978 with a second pilot, Return to Fantasy Island. On this occasion, a barracudalike female executive (Adrienne Barbeau) is cut down to size by the man who has worshipped her from afar; an amnesia victim (Karen Valentine) relives a horrifying event as she searches for her true identity; and an infertile copule (Joseph Campanella, Pat Crowley) yearn for a reunion with the child they gave up for adoption a dozen years earlier. The Fantasy Island series proper began eight days later on January 28, cutting down the "fantasies" from three to two per episode in order to accommodate the weekly sixty-minute format. The series opener finds stage magician Bert Convy risking his life to pull off the most dangerous escape of his career, and drab middle-class ladies Diana Canova and Georgette Engel getting the opportunity to hobnob with high society. Subsequent episodes feature such prominent guest players as Carol Lynley (who'd appeared in the first pilot), Jane Powell, Henry Gibson, Sheree North, Christopher George, James Macarthur, Vera Miles, Don Knotts, Ray Bolger, Ken Berry and Rich Little-- also Lauren Tewes and David Doyle, respectively the costars of two other popular Aaron Spelling concoctions, The Love Boat and Charlie's Angels. One of the season's best episodes, wherein meek accountant Gary Burghoff dreams of being a baseball superstar, features sports figures Tommy Lasorda, Steve Garvey, Fred Lynn, George Brett, and Ellis Valentine in cameos as "themselves." The final brace of fantasies for Fantasy Island's first season finds gambler Richard Dawson aspiring to be "the world's luckiest man" (and suffering the consequences!), while singer Kathryn Holcomb travels back to the 1930s to find out why her mother gave up her own showbiz career. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The long-running Aaron Spelling TV series Fantasy Island was launched with a two-hour pilot film, which originally aired January 14, 1977. Ricardo Montalban stars as the enigmatic, sartorially splendiferous Mr. Roarke, who welcomes those willing to pony up the $50,000 to spend a weekend on "Fantasy Island." Roarke's assistant, the diminutive Tattoo ("De plane, boss! De plane!") is played by Herve Villechaize. The special guest stars indulging in their fantasies this time around include Bill Bixby, Sandra Dee, Carol Lynley, Peter Lawford, Hugh O'Brian, Eleanor Parker, Victoria Principal, Dick Sargent and Tina Sinatra. Parker plays a wealthy woman who wants to attend her own funeral, just to see what her relatives really think of her. Businessman Bixby is sent back in time to a bittersweet wartime romance. And bored hunter O'Brian wants to see what it's like to be "the hunted." Mr. Roarke indulges all these fantasies with his usual finesse, just as he would in the series proper, which ran from January 28, 1978 through August 18, 1984. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

After being plagued by recurring dreams where three strange creatures play havoc with his mind, a novelist pulls an overnighter during which his mind-spun creatures become a reality and horror happens. ~ All Movie Guide

The Man With the Golden Gun, Roger Moore's second outing as James Bond (Live and Let Die was the first), whisks our hero off to Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand, and then the South China Sea in search of a solar energy weapon. His opponent is Scaramanga (Christopher Lee), who rules the roost on a well-fortified island. Scaramanga's aide-de-camp is Nick Nack, played by future Fantasy Island co-star Herve Villechaize. Britt Ekland plays the bikinied Mary Goodnight, whose clumsy efforts to help Bond thwart Scaramanga are almost as destructive as the elusive solar device. The Man With the Golden Gun was adapted by Richard Maibaum and Tom Mankiewicz from Ian Fleming's last James Bond novel, which had to be published posthumously in "rough draft" form. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In Greaser's Palace, Alan Arbus plays a zoot-suited character named Jesse, who is not only a Christlike figure, he is Christ. En route to Jerusalem, where he hopes to find work as a "singer-dancer-actor," Jesse finds himself in a dusty western town. At first, he is targeted for extermination by town boss Seaweedhead Greaser (Albert Henderson) but all this changes when he brings Greaser's son Lamy (Michael Sullivan) back from the dead. Jesse's healing powers lead to all sorts of wacked-out complications and, inevitably, a bizarre confrontation with the town looney, exotic dancer Cholera (Luana Anders). A very young Robert Downey Jr. (the son of the director) appears as a Quasimodo-like child. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide