Selfish and caring, funny and touching - this is how you can describe an alien from the destroyed planet Melmak, who settled in the house of an ordinary American Tanner family. For the first time, American residents were able to get acquainted with this funny red-headed creature in 1986, when the first Alpha series was released. Seeing how the alien fell in love with the public, the creators of the series began to shoot more and more new series, which later could be seen by residents of 80 countries.
However, to this day, many of those who enthusiastically watched all the episodes with the participation of this cute undersized alien creature have been tormented by the question: how could a lifeless doll made of red fur so well convey all the emotions that the script experienced Alf? How tall could an actor get into such a small doll?
Paul Fasco: the man who created and “revived” Alpha
The idea of creating a beloved hero, which appeared in 1984, belongs to Paul Fasco. After that, the name of the producer sounded completely different. After the owners of the NBC cable network launched the first Alpha series, they realized that the project would be a great success. From 1986 to 1990, the rest of the series went on air.
In the series "Alph", the actor, who plays the main role, hides behind the doll all the time, only guiding the movement of her head and hands. At the same time, the facial expressions of the face of the long-nosed alien turned out to be quite lively: his eyes blink, he smiles, squints, chews and moves his ears. In almost all scenes, only the upper part of the Alpha torso is visible, the control of which was skillfully directed by Paul Fasko himself. It was he who also set about voicing his hero. Facial expressions were engaged in Lisa Buckley and Bob Fappiano.
Michu Mesaros - Image Assistant Alpha
In some scenes of the first part of the series, Alf appears on the screen to his full height, while walking or running somewhere. This is where the viewer comes up with the main question: how is this possible? Everything is very simple: the actor who played Alpha in these short episodes is midget Michu Mesaros.
He was born in Hungary in 1939. In addition to Alpha, the 84-cm actor played in four more films: Warlock 2: Armageddon and Freaks (1993) and Shorty the Big Bump and Wax Museum (1998). In addition, the actor, playing Alpha in full growth, was a famous circus artist. The name of Michu Mesaros is listed in the Guinness book with the inscription: "The smallest man in the world."
Other cast members
Let's talk about other participants in the beloved television series "Alph", the actors and roles in which were carefully developed. The head of the family, who took over the alien for permanent residence, was Max Wright. The comic Willie Tanner in his performance turned out great. The actor starred in no more than two dozen film projects, but spent most of his life working at the theater.
Anne Shedin, who played Kate Tanner, in "Alpha" had the largest role in her life. After short appearances in several more paintings, she decided to devote herself to interior design. Anne transfers her acting talent to others through acting lessons.
The roles of the Tanner family went to Andrea Elson and Benji Gregory. They, like no one, approached the role of exemplary Lynn and Brian in the TV series "Alph". Actor Benjamin Gregory did not find his place in the television field and became a ship meteorologist. In the life of Andrea Elson, there were several more roles, but then the girl decided to devote herself completely to motherhood.
Features of the filming of "Alpha"
Shooting every Alpha series took a lot of time. Instead of 3-5 hours, each of them could take a day. Especially tired were the hours-long filming of young Benjamin, who, in his own words, always dreamed of the end of the working day in order to get the opportunity to ride a skateboard.
On the set of the television series "Alf", actress Andrea Elson found not only universal recognition, but also her future husband. On the set, she met Scott Hopper, a 34-year-old assistant director, whom she married three years after the last episode of Alpha. During filming, she developed bulimia, the cure of which occurred only during pregnancy already in 1997.
Behind the fun, adventurous life of a happy Tanner family was a not-so-healthy atmosphere at the site. The shooting took place in tension and brought the actors to complete exhaustion. Paul Fasco strove by any effort to achieve high quality of each episode of his series, the end of which was a real celebration for the actors.
Each actor who played in the television series "Alf" actor gave all his best. The greatest amount of effort and time was spent on revitalizing the most important character - the red-haired alien. The fact that the forces were spent not in vain is evidenced by the love of Alf by a million audience consisting of representatives of various ages and nationalities.