The real E.T. (12/26/82)

Ukrainian making news

The real E.T.

by Roma Sochan Hadzewycz

JERSEY CITY, N.J. - As millions of moviegoers across the country have learned, E.T. is a somewhat strange-looking, grey-green, amphibian-like creature who finds himself stranded on Earth some 3 million light years away from home.

Few of them, however, know that the very human quality E.T. possesses is due to a 45-pound, 2-foot-10-inch dwarf named Pat Bilon. And, that this unknown star is Ukrainian.

Yes, you read that correctly.

The Weekly learned the true identity of the title character of Steven Spielberg's blockbuster movie, "E.T. - The Extra-Terrestrial," on Friday, July 2.

The story of how The Weekly learned this information is almost as remarkable as the story itself.

It began as any normal Friday would. The Weekly (July 4 issue) was fresh off the presses, and we, the editors, were searching for our desks somewhere beneath those piles of papers that had accumulated during the routinely hectic week. It was the staff's traditional "day of rest" - a time to catch up on reading and prepare for that always-busy Monday morning.

In walked a middle-aged couple - LUC'ers (members of the League of Ukrainian Catholics) by the look of the booklets they carried. The woman acted as spokesperson.

"Our son is E.T.," she calmly said to this writer.

My astonished look must have resembled ignorance.

"You've heard of the movie?" she asked.

Yes, I certainly had heard...and heard and heard. Weekly associate editor George Zarycky had seen the movie only four times and couldn't stop talking about it. (By the time this story was written the count was up to five, since he insisted on accompanying assistant editor Marta Kolomayets when she went to see "E.T.")

I simply didn't know how to react. "What do you mean?" I asked, while instinctively reaching for a pencil and plenty of paper.

The couple explained that their son is a dwarf and that it's him the audience sees in the E.T. costume.

Costume? Well, this was the first we'd heard that E.T. was human. All news reports to date had described the alien as a mechanical creation composed of foam rubber, fiberglass and polyurethane, and brought to "life" through an intricate system of electronic and hydraulic controls.

As if this wasn't enough, we then learned that E.T. is Ukrainian, speaks Ukrainian and is a member of Ukrainian National Association Branch 119 in the Youngstown, Ohio, area.

No, it wasn't going to be a normal Friday.

The visitors were Esther and Michael Bilon, a housewife and steelworker from Youngstown. They said their 34 year-old son Michael Patrick, who goes by the name of Pat (or Petrush in Ukrainian) is the real star of "E.T.," the box-office smash that earned $87 million in 25 days - over $17 million of that during Independence Day weekend alone.

The Bilons, who happened to be out East for the LUC's annual sports rally, then proceeded to tell The Weekly the fantastic story of Pat Bilon. Later, The Weekly contacted E.T. himself to get the complete picture. More precisely, Weekly phone E.T. - to use the alien's syntax.

One of the smallest dwarfs

At 2 feet 10 inches, Pat Bilon (pronounced Bilan) is one of the smallest adult male dwarfs in the country, his parents explained, adding that he doesn't consider himself handicapped, but there are some disadvantages. "We're not bragging, but we're truly proud of his accomplishments," Mrs. Bilon said.

A third-generation Ukrainian American, he was born and raised in Youngstown and still lives there with his parents. He is active in Ukrainian community organizations, including the League of Ukrainian Catholics, St. Anne's Ukrainian Catholic Church and parish organizations.

As a youngster he was an altar boy and boy scout. He attended parochial school and Catholic high school, and studied drama in college.

He has been a performer since childhood. Pat began tap dancing at age 7 and, according to his mother, he appeared in many shows, sometimes with celebrities, and became well-known for appearances in regional stage productions.

While still in elementary school, in the late 1950s, Pat had offers to appear on the Jack Parr and Perry Como shows, but, Mrs. Bilon said, "we didn't want to expose him." He did perform a song-and-dance routine with the June Taylor Dancers.

More recently Mr. Bilon was emcee at a banquet for the late Mike Yarosh, a Ukrainian running for county sheriff, and appeared with film and TV star Mike Mazurki who was a guest speaker at the event.

Mr. Bilon has also appeared at such events as car shows, once going on a five-city promotional tour for the Dodge Omni.

Three or four years ago he was on stage with TV actress Loni Anderson at a Loni look-alike contest sponsored by WKBN radio in Youngstown. He played the station's mascot, the KBN Kid. He has also done commercials for WKBN radio and TV, a CBS affiliate.

Mr. Bilon's activity has also touched the Ukrainian community. "About seven or eight years ago," he says, he started a Ukrainian gift shop called Petrush's Ukrainian Arts on what used to be the patio of the Bilon home.

In 1974 he founded and began hosting the Ukrainian Radio Hour on WKTL-FM in Youngstown.

Little people

For some 20 years now, Mr. Bilon has been involved with Little People of America, a 4,000-member organization for dwarfs and their families. There are between 50,000 and 75,000 dwarfs in the United States, and LPA's goal, according to Mr. Bilon, is "to promote our stature and to prove that we're no different from other people." LPA members are doctors, lawyers, persons of all occupations.

The group provides opportunities for dwarfs to meet each other, to discuss problems, and it promotes measures such as barrier-free architecture. However, Mr. Bilon is quick to say that little people have no real problems in life, they just encounter nuisances like reaching things and buying clothes.

The organization is divided into 12 districts nationwide, and Mr. Bilon was director of District 5 which encompasses seven states. He often addresses groups on behalf of LPA.

LPA holds annual conventions in July, as well as golf tournaments in September which support programs on genetics and growth. Among the stars who have teamed up with LPA members in the tourneys are Mickey Rooney, Jack Albertson, Lee Majors, Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and Morey Amsterdam.

The organization also holds medical symposia throughout the year, many of them in affiliation with Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore.

The 1982 LPA convention, incidentally, marks the organization's 25th anniversary, and it is being held in Reno, Nev., the site of LPA's establishment.

It was through the Little People of America that Mr. Bilon was able to break into movies.

First movie role

At the 1979 LPA convention in Lancaster, Pa., Mr. Bilon was spotted by talent scouts and was one of the first persons picked to appear in "Under the Rainbow" with Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher.

Mr. Bilon describes the movie as "a slapstick comedy, like the Marx Brothers, with a spy plot." It is set in the early 1930s, and it tells of what happened to the dwarfs who arrived for the shooting of "The Wizard of Oz."

Mr. Bilon said he played "one of the sub-major roles" and "did a lot of scenes" in the movie. He was billed as Little Pat.

The filming, which took place in Hollywood in October 1980, took four to five months to complete and Mr. Bilon took a leave of absence from the job he then held as dispatcher for the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department.

"Under the Rainbow" was released in the summer of 1981, and it led Mr. Bilon to his role as E.T.

Good family movie

In her typically understated style, Mrs. Bilon described "E.T." as "a good family movie." Well, it certainly is that - and much, much more - judging by the nationwide response. Described by many as a modern-day version of the "boy and his dog" story, its appeal is universal.

E.T., the title character, has become the newest darling of America, yet he is not even listed as a star.

The clue to the strange E.T.'s true identity appears at the end of the credits seen on the screen at the conclusion of the movie. Listed under a category slugged "Special E.T. Movement" are six persons, the first one of them being Pat Bilon.

Mr. Bilon is the real E.T. According to his own estimate, that's him we see about 90 percent of the time E.T. appears on screen. The other 10 percent is a purely mechanical E.T. - the one with the telescoping neck.

The E.T. voice is reported to be an electronically distorted woman's voice, and Mr. Bilon noted that it was produced in George Lucas's studio.

What of the other five persons listed under "Special E.T. Movement"?

They're "doubles and stand-ins," Mr. Bilon explained. Some were in the costume when the lighting and cameras were being adjusted; others played the extra-terrestrials seen in the opening scene of the movie.

One of those who played in that particular scene was Tamara De Treaux, the 22-year-old, 40-pound dwarf who made headlines this week when she announced to the press that she was the real E.T.

Mr. Bilon pointed out, however, that Ms. De Treaux's claim to fame is based only on her role as one of the aliens who descend from their spacecraft at the movie's beginning.

Ms. De Treaux was quoted as saying that she got the part of E.T. when the original was injured. Mr. Bilon corrected her version of the story: "I am the original E.T. I hurt my back, and she was there in case I couldn't work." She was "an understudy."

"But it's all me - 100 percent. I did everything except the mechanical parts (moving the head, neck and fingers) and the voice," he continued. "I worked in pain."

"They're upset at Universal (Studios) about Tamara saying that she's E.T. She can mess up the works," Mr. Bilon said. He also revealed that he has been phoned by Mr. Spielberg who asked him to fly out to Hollywood on Tuesday (July 13) in relation to this problem of E.T.'s real identity. "I believe it's for a picture taking session for People magazine," he added.

Hired as a stunt man

Though hired as a stunt man to wear the 50-pound E.T. costume that outweighs him by five pounds, Mr. Bilon said: "My acting made him a personality. I did all the reaching and the walking - it's like a duck walk with a limp at times."

When Mr. Bilon was in the $1.5 million outfit there were two other persons controlling the face and fingers. When E.T. was purely mechanical, it took seven or eight persons to control its diversified movements, he explained.

Being inside E.T. was "very difficult," he said. He was in the outfit for up to six hours at a time, there was no ventilation, and he couldn't see out of the costume. Mr. Bilon's head reached only up to the shoulders of E.T., and his hands reached down to the creature's elbows.

"They had to direct me and tell me which way to walk." But there was one problem, he said, "they would forget that their left was not mine."

Security on the E.T. set was extremely tight, and Mr. Spielberg was very secretive about his movie. He was especially concerned that no one beside those on the set would find out that there was a person in the E.T. costume.

"Spielberg wanted to make the whole thing a fantasy," Mr. Bilon noted. In fact, Mr. Bilon said that he was taken out onto the set in a wheelchair covered with blankets.

A perfect fit

By now, you're probably asking: Yes, but how did Mr. Bilon get the part of E.T.?

Well, it was largely a matter of size (no joke intended). The E.T. costume was actually made first. Then, someone had to be found to fit it.

In July 1981, while Mr. Bilon, a member of the Screen Actors Guild, was at the convention of Little People of America, a casting agent called him and asked him to audition for a movie. Universal Studios flew Mr. Bilon from Minnesota, where the convention was being held, to Hollywood and then back home to Youngstown.

He auditioned - in the E.T. costume - on a Thursday, he recalled, and the next day he was told that he got the part.

Shooting began in Hollywood in September and continued through the first week of December. After that location shots were done in California.

Asked which scenes in "E.T." were most memorable for him, Mr. Bilon described the chase scene on bicycle. "I was in a yoga position in the basket of Elliot's bike, and a truck with a camera was pulling the bike. I couldn't see how fast we were going, but I could feel the breeze and I could tell it was very fast." He said he recalls Mr. Spielberg yelling "faster, faster."

But the scenes he liked most were the ones in which 10-year-old Elliot, the protagonist, treats E.T. "like a brother," when he puts a muffler around him and when he talks to him. He said he also enjoyed doing the "bag-lady" scene because "it was different."

The real E.T. said he has seen the movie four times and has cried at each showing, but during different scenes. Most recently he cried when Elliot was saying good-bye to E.T. before he boarded the spaceship.

"E.T.," according to Mr. Bilon, is such a success because it "shows the love of children for all things," and because "it gets people back to the old-time movies that showed love" - like that between a boy and his dog. "There's a lot of love to show in films, instead of rioting and other violence," he added.

"I'm really thrilled to have a movie like this so successful" and "to have something like this for future use," he commented. He said he's also happy that he "had something to do with its financial success."

As for personal financial gain, Mr. Bilon said he does not yet know how much he will earn thanks to his all important role.

Back home

Back home in Youngstown, the reaction to "E.T." and Mr. Bilon's role in it has been marvelous. "People just love it," said Mrs. Bilon, "we've had so many congratulatory calls" from friends who tell us how much they enjoyed the movie.

Many of these friends, added Mr. Bilon, "didn't know what movie I went out for" and they were amazed when they learned that it was "E.T."

The Rev. George Lukaczyk of Colchester, Conn., a friend of the Bilons, took children of his parish to see the movie and later called Mr. Bilon and asked him to speak with two of the children. "One of them, a little girl, invited me to her sixth birthday party," Mr. Bilon said. "She wanted all her friends to meet E.T.," Mrs. Bilon recalled.

In their home town, the Bilons are well-known for their Ukrainian Radio Hour and Ukrainian gift shop.

Pat, who says his occupation is "starving actor," is guest host of the hourlong program that airs on Saturdays at 8 p.m. on WKTL-FM, 90.7.

His parents Esther and Michael are the hosts of the show that is run mostly in English but with some Ukrainian. The program, which features mostly music and community announcements, serves Youngstown's Ukrainian community of about 30,000 as well as "scores of non-Ukrainian listeners who love the music," explained Mrs. Bilon.

Pat also helps his parents run Petrush's Ukrainian Arts, which, like the radio show, was conceived by him. The shop, located in the Bilon home at 122 S. Osborne Ave., sells Ukrainian ceramics, pysanky, dyes, records and tapes, embroidery and other gift items.

Its location is ideal, since Youngstown is right off the heavily traveled Interstate Route 80, and is situated midway between New York and Chicago, and Pittsburgh and Cleveland. The visitors to our shop are from all over the country, indeed from all over the world, Mrs. Bilon noted, adding that the Bilons have had guests from Australia, England, France, Poland and even Ukraine. "Customers come to our house and often we interview them for our radio program," she explained. "People can come any time - we've even had customers at 4 a.m.," she laughed.

A special item carried by the shop is a pair of dancing Ukrainian figurines conceived by the elder Mr. Bilon. The figurines are by far the shop's most popular offering and they are ordered and re-ordered by many shops and church organizations.

Michael Bilon added that he had studied fine arts in college and that he worked with three artists on the design; the third artist, he said, "finally came up with what we wanted."

It was Michael Bilon's long-time dream to produce such figurines, and it was Pat's encouragement and the "partial funding" he provided thanks to his acting career that made the dream come true, Mrs. Bilon continued.

Obviously Pat Bilon has made his and others' dreams come true.

"Yes, we're very proud of Pat, and we think he can serve as an example for everybody," Mrs. Bilon said. "Our little niece once told a friend of her's who happens to be a dwarf that you can do anything if you make up your mind to do it, and then she said: 'just look at my cousin Pat.'"