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‘ALF’ Actor Michu Meszaros In Coma As He Fights For His Life In L.A. Hospital

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 22:56 PST, Jun 12, 2016

Michu Meszaros is fighting for his life in a Los Angeles hospital. Mihaly “Michu” Meszaros, who’s best known for playing the TV character ALF in the 1980s NBC sitcom of the same name, was rushed to the hospital after his manager found him unresponsive in a bathroom, according to TMZ. Michu Meszaros remains in a coma.

Michu’s manager, Dennis Varga, told TMZ that the 76-year-old actor has been dealing with health problems for the past eight years after suffering a stroke. Dennis also said Meszaros gave him strict instructions not to take him off life support.

The ALF TV show used a puppet for most of the shots of the anteater-like alien character, but during the show’s first two seasons, Michu Meszaros wore a full-body costume when producers needed action shots for scenes of ALF walking, running, or standing. At two-foot-nine, Michu fit the bill for the body, while ALF creator and puppeteer Paul Fusco served as the voice over for the character.

Most shots of ALF were half-body shots of the character’s upper body because the costume was extremely uncomfortable for Meszaros to wear for long periods of time under the bright studio lights. The proportions of the ALF puppet and costume were slightly different, so viewers could easily tell when Michu was playing the character.

But taping could be grueling. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Fusco revealed that trap doors had to be set up all around the set so that ALF could appear almost anywhere. And while Fusco operated the puppet version of ALF from underneath, the deep, unoccupied holes all over the floor were treacherous. It would sometimes take two days to shoot one 25-minute episode of the series, with or without Michu.

ALF was from the planet Melmac, and his name was short for Alien Life Form. For four seasons, the novelty TV show followed the wisecracking alien’s animated antics after he crash-landed in the garage of a suburban family. ALF had a penchant for cigars, beer, and the family cat, and the character’s catchphrase was “Gimme four!” And in the late ’80s, the character was everywhere, his face emblazoned on lunch boxes, video games, T-shirts, toys, and even air fresheners. But few knew Michu Meszaros, the man inside the ALF costume.

Before he played ALF, Michu Meszaros got his start in the entertainment field at Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Michu also did a cameo in the movie Big Top Pee-wee and appeared in two Pepsi commercials with Michael Jackson. Meszaros’ last acting project was in the 1993 movie Warlock: The Armageddon.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Michu Meszaros described himself as the “world’s smallest man” when he became a U.S. citizen in 1990.

“This is the biggest day of my life,” 33-inch-tall Michu Meszaros said when he became a U.S. Citizen. “I’m the happiest man in the world.”

Meszaros, who weighed only two and a half pounds at birth, defected from Hungary at age 40 after dealing with discrimination over his height. The actor also battled unscrupulous operators of the Hungarian National Circus over his low pay. Michu told the Times that life was very hard for him in Hungary, and he grew weary of the circus life. But he quickly acclimated to life in the United States.

In 1997, Michu Meszaros was named the honorary mayor of Hawthorne, California, according to the Los Angeles Times. Hawthorne Mayor Larry Guidi bestowed the actor with the title of honorary mayor in recognition of his efforts to raise money for orphaned children in former Eastern Bloc countries. Meszaros was named an ambassador of goodwill for the city.

UPDATE: Michu Meszaros has died, according to Tv Line.

You can see Michu Meszaros as walking ALF in the video below.

[Image via Historia de esta Imagen Facebook]

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