David Rappaport
November 23, 1951 - May 2, 1990
Yeah, well. I remember when this guy died. He was a very small British actor who actually had a fairly successful career in TV and movies. He was one of the main characters in Time Bandits and The Bride and was set to guest-star on Star Trek: The Next Generation at the time of his death. In the year before his death he'd made some appearances on L.A. Law and had a short-lived '80s series of his own (The Wizard). But he suffered from depression and general unhappiness and bought a .38 and killed himself. This is the same way that Herve Villaichaze (Tattoo from Fantasy Island) also chose to check out.
Look. While I'm a man of average (or some would say, less than average) height myself, I will never know what it's like to be a "little person". But I do know that many a diminutive actor has had hard times and continued to work and not offed himself. I know it's all a matter of personal choice, but look how long Billy Barty lived. He took a lot of bad movie and TV roles, up to and including dressing up in the sea monster outfit in Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, but he never gave up. Worked right up until the time of his death at age 76. Warwick Davis, who starred in Willow (which Barty was also in), hasn't given up. Even though he's mostly appeared in the awful Leprechaun movies for the last 15 years, he's still a working and successful actor in Hollywood.
And if you tiny short men out there need further inspiration, you don't need to look very hard to know that you can be a star. I'm pointing, of course to the careers of Al Pacino and Prince. Face!
Thank you and good night.
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