Trivia

Was almost killed while working as the stunt double for "Short Round" in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) during the filming of the river rapids scene. The life raft in which he was riding flipped over in the turbulent water and he was trapped underneath it for some time with a faulty inflatable life vest, nearly drowning until a safety diver could reach him and pull him to safety.

His audition for his most famous role, television's "Cousin Itt" of The Addams Family (1964), was as mysterious to him at the time as the popular character would soon be to millions of viewers. Arriving at the studio, he received little more than a quick looking over by the director and producer, who merely said "That's Itt!" and told him to come back Monday morning and report for work. He returned home for the weekend, pleased to have passed the audition but still completely unaware of who (or what) he had been hired to portray on The Addams Family (1964). Not until Monday morning, just hours before he made his debut as "Cousin Itt", did he have any idea as to the nature of the character.

Met Claire Brennen on the set of She Freak (1967). They had a nine-year relationship and managed to keep this a secret for all of those years despite the fact that she bore him a son.

Although the character of "Cousin Itt" did not debut on The Addams Family (1964) until over a third of the way through the entire series, Silla's delightfully odd and inspired performance of the character made him so popular that "Cousin Itt" was carried over into both the animated series and the motion picture versions of "The Addams Family", even though the character was a creation of television producer David Levy and not part of the original Charles Addams cartoons (neither was the character of "Thing").

When he arrived in the United States at age 16, he spoke not a word of English and had no formal acting experience, but credits joining the Ringling Bros. circus with teaching him both language and performance skills, working first in the sideshow and then becoming skilled as both a clown and a bareback rider.

His favorite role is that of "Litvak", the maniacal adversary of George Segal in the mystery parody The Black Bird (1975).

Father, with wife Sue Silla, of Bonnie, Michael, and Diana.

He has appeared in four films that have been selected for the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant: Point Blank, Planet of the Apes, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, & Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

During the production of the television series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979), in which he was inside the Twiki costume, he developed a close friendship with star Gil Gerard that lasted over 40 years. It was Gerard who announced Silla's passing on April 16, 2021.

Appeared at the 2011 Computer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA. (January 2011)