Michael Patrick Bilon, or Pat to his friends, was born August 28th, 1947, in Youngstown, Ohio. You barely needed to look at him to know that he was different. But, if you spent any time with him at all, you’d quickly realize just how special he was.
Pat Bilon was born with a form of dwarfism, reaching two feet ten inches tall. Or, 86 centimeters, whichever you prefer. He, however, didn’t see his lack of height as any kind of disability. If anything, he saw it more an asset than a hinderance.
After graduating from Ursuline High School, he went to Youngstown State University, studying voice and drama. After this, he appeared in the occasional television commercial or was hired for special events. Calling himself a “starving actor” he was forced to take other jobs.
In a move that might surprise people who didn’t know him, one of his first jobs was as a bouncer at a bowling alley’s bar – doing little more than standing around the door and checking customer’s IDs. It was a couple of years later that he went to work for the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Department, working as a radio dispatcher.
Pat Bilon: Actor
In 1979, Pat got his first big break in Hollywood – getting hired for a screwball comedy called Under the Rainbow, getting to share the screen with people like Carrie Fisher, Eve Arden, and Chevy Chase.
But … it was his next (and only other) movie that he is perhaps most known for. To be fair, he was one of several people credited with playing the character, yet he was the main one you “saw” when you saw him on screen. I know that sounds weird, so let me explain.
Most people tend to say that the role of E.T. in Stephen Spielberg’s 1982 classic E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial was played by Pat Bilon, because even though there were a few puppeteers involved in the process, only Pat was small enough to fit inside the costume. Therefore, any time that we see our little alien friend on screen, walking around or moving about – that’s Pat inside the costume. Those few times we only see parts of him, it’s not.
Considering that I was somewhere in the neighborhood of ten years old when the movie was released, I was probably in the target demographic for the film. It never occurred to me to ask who was in the costume. Later, once computer graphics evolved to the point where nearly anything and everything is possible it’s important to remember that earlier films, liek E.T. could not rely on any of this tech, instead using practical effects, puppetry, and small people in rubber costumes.
Sadly, Pat Bilon passed away before he could make any further films. But, he lived his life as an example of how disabilities don’t have to limit us, even if they do define us. They could, after all, become a part of so many of our most treasured memories.
