Quiz

Died in Mexico City of shellfish poisoning on the last day of filming a scene from Barbagialla, il terrore dei sette mari e mezzo (1983), in which he was supposed to die. A double completed the death scene. His illness was discovered by filmmaker friend Michael Mileham who had also suffered from the same poisoning but survived.

Suffered from Graves' disease during his early childhood in which, after a botched surgical operation, his condition resulted in his eyes being more protruded and misaligned (strabismus).

According to various sources, Feldman was known to get physically sick when having to watch screenings of his own work or performance.

Befriended a young teen who crashed the Frankenstein Junior (1974) set named Alan Spencer and offered encouragement to his writing career. The young scribe eventually created the TV show Troppo forte (1986).

His wife Lauretta asked him to marry her, when he supposedly made no move to do so, after nine months of daily dating.

Liked to write poetry and, as a teenager, was even introduced to famous poet Dylan Thomas. Thomas reportedly told the young Feldman that he had talent, thus he continued to write.

When presenting the 1977 Live Action Short Oscar, he called the two winning producers to the stage, threw the statue to the floor, then handed a shard of the award to each one. He said, "It said, 'Made in Hong Kong' on the bottom.".

In Arancia meccanica (1971), when Alex (Malcolm McDowell) returns home from prison one of the smaller headlines in the newspaper his father is reading says: "Marty Feldman's Wife Banned".

Had a number of absurd and varied jobs in his youth. These included being a kitchen hand, message boy for an advertising agency, jazz musician in clubs, greyhound racetrack tipster, and an assistant to an Indian fakir in his side-show acts.

Was deported from Paris for vagrancy as a teenager when he pretended to be an innocent youth, impressed with the work of an American sculptor pretending to be French. Feldman, working on commission for the sculptor, lured gullible tourists as customers.

Liked to play soccer and also enjoyed watching baseball, calling it, "Cricket on speed".

Best remembered by American audiences for his role as Igor (pronounced "Eye-gore") in Mel Brooks' spoof Frankenstein Junior (1974). Gene Wilder, who co-wrote the film with Brooks and starred as the titular Frankenstein, stated on numerous occasions that he considered Feldman the heart of the film. Brooks agreed completely with this sentiment.

Subject of a novelty song by Bruce Baum. The song was a parody of the hit "Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes ("All the boys think she's a guy / she's got Marty Feldman eyes").

Interred at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, California - Garden of Heritage, Lot 5420 near his idol, Buster Keaton.

His film Io, Beau Geste e la legione straniera (1977) was butchered by the studio. Those that worked on it said that was the reason it was not a classic.

In his DVD commentary for Frankenstein Junior (1974), director Mel Brooks provides a further explanation for Marty Feldman's early death. According to Brooks, who worked with him on Young Frankenstein and L'ultima follia di Mel Brooks (1976), Feldman smoked about half a carton of cigarettes (four or five packs) a day as well as drank copious amounts of black coffee (the tannic acid in coffee, which can be partly neutralized by milk, in some studies has been found to increase the risk of heart attack but this association is weak.) The high altitude of Mexico City (over 7,000 feet above sea level) with the air about 24% thinner, where Feldman was filming most of Barbagialla, il terrore dei sette mari e mezzo (1983), could have added still more stress by forcing his heart and lungs to work harder. The food poisoning that Feldman and Michael Mileham contracted shows that Feldman likely had underlying and predisposing cardiovascular conditions that lead to his demise under the stresses of the high altitude, compromised lung capacity and oxygen delivery due to his heavy cigarette smoking off-camera, and with food poisoning may have been the final straw, which may explain why Mileham survived, and Feldman didn't. It is also plausible that Feldman may have gotten a larger dose of poisoned shellfish than Mileham.

Despite persistent published reports, Marty Feldman wasn't the brother of actress Fenella Fielding. The two are not related in any way.

Biography in: "Who's Who in Comedy" by Ronald L. Smith, pg. 157-158. New York: Facts on File, 1992. ISBN 0816023387.