Famous Actor You Never Knew: Who Played ALF in the ‘80s Show?
You probably won't even find him in the credits if you don't know what to look for.
There are a lot of people in the movie industry whose names get lost at the end of long credits. You probably don't know the names of most of the stuntmen, doubles, sound engineers, and other important people.
Sometimes the public does not even know the actor who played the lead role in a popular TV show. Today we will try to change this.
Michu Meszaros was born in Hungary on September 20, 1939, in the small village near Budapest. After graduating from the School of Circus Arts and mastering several specialties, he began performing in the Hungarian State Circus at the age of 14. In 1973, during one of his performances, he was noticed by representatives of Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus – one of the largest US circuses.
As part of the show, Michu performed in circus arenas in the US and Canada. The show was attended by many famous people, including two US presidents, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Mostly, the artist was a trainer of poodles, who, by the way, often turned out to be bigger than him. Michu himself was quite happy with this circus life, but a career as a movie actor was waiting for him.
In 1986, Michu was invited to star in the NBC sitcom ALF. The actor (who was also of short stature) played the role of a funny alien in all the moments when the character appeared at full height.
It seems that such a popular TV show should have brought real fame to Michu, but during the filming, only the upper part of Alf was used in most of the times. It was controlled by the creator of the show, Paul Fusco, and several assistants. As a result, in the credits, Michu Meszaros’ name appears only in the list of the assistant puppeteers.
His work in the film industry did not end with ALF. You may have seen him in movies like Waxwork, Warlock: The Armageddon and Freaked. His last role was as Leprechaun in the short movie Death to Cupid.
Sadly, Michu Meszaros passed away in June 2016. Although this actor never received a single award, the shortest street in the city of Hawthorne, not far from Los Angeles, is named after him.