# Did they ever explain why Tattoo left Fantasy Island? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [December 31, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370 "2020-12-31T17:32:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/1 "2020-12-31T17:32:48Z")
It’s well-known that Hervé Villechaize left the show from a salary dispute, but did they ever explain in the show why the character left? My googling failed to come up with anything, so I suspect they never explained it in the show. I did discover he was replaced by the guy who would play Mr. Belvedere, which I either never knew or forgot. ---
**Author:** ![Borborygmi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/borborygmi/32/217_2.png) [@Borborygmi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Borborygmi)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/2 "2020-12-31T21:18:38Z")
No explanation was given, according to [TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/FantasyIsland): > What Happened to the Mouse?: > > - During the Tattoo/Julie year we see Julie see the plane and run off to greet it. While some of the episodes with Tattoo give a short mention that Julie is busy with another fantasy, others show her leave to greet the plane, then disappear completely from that episode without explanation. > - We never find out why Julie and Tattoo leave before the Lawrence episodes. Julie was Mr. Roarke’s goddaughter. I remembered the butler but I have no memory of this other proxy for Tattoo. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/3 "2020-12-31T21:59:58Z")
Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/4 "2020-12-31T22:29:09Z")
Such disappearances were seldom explained back in the day. (How often are they now?) The audience was basically left to assume characters had either passed away or moved on to more lucrative positions. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/5 "2020-12-31T23:28:04Z")
They tried to back out of the Pact, so “Mr Roarke” sent them to Hell. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/6 "2021-01-01T00:32:00Z")
> [@Borborygmi](#): > > Julie was Mr. Roarke’s goddaughter. GODdaughter? Can the Devil even have a goddaughter? Won’t they all burst into flames or something? Unless you are of the school that believes Roarke is God Himself? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/7 "2021-01-01T00:40:18Z")
I read somewhere in my recent Googling that Ricardo Montalban thought Roarke was a fallen angel. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/8 "2021-01-01T03:55:36Z")
On another “why did someone not show up again who logically should have?”, what about Mr. Roarke’s young stepson? ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/9 "2021-01-01T04:19:06Z")
I think Tattoo was in charge of the books and once he came up a little… No, I can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/10 "2021-01-01T04:26:54Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > No, I can’t. How many times has your wife heard this? (Happy New Year, Burp! You my Favorite!) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/11 "2021-01-01T04:28:07Z")
Shucks folks, I’m speechless! ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2021, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/12 "2021-01-02T14:07:46Z")
Just as an aside, I was a young teenager during the show’s run, and I remember the pilot episode in which Mr. Roarke was not some sorcerer who created the fantasies through magic, it was all done with illusion, and he had an infrastructure of workers helping him. One of the plot lines of the pilot was that a guest kept almost getting killed in his fantasy, and it turned out that one of the workers had a past grudge against the guest and was trying to kill him. In the climactic scene the worker revealed himself to the guest and was about to kill him, saying “the hell with you” when Mr. Roarke appeared with a shotgun, and calmly said, “no, the hell with you, Mr. Smith”. That was a pilot episode I could get behind. When the show turned into pure magic I was disappointed at how cheesy it became. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2021, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/13 "2021-01-02T16:34:58Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Such disappearances were seldom explained back in the day. Long ago I was watching a soap opera with a woman. I’d never seen one before, nor since. A character was onscreen and a caption proclaimed, “the part of Cynthia is being played by “Actresses Name” today”. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2021, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/14 "2021-01-02T17:40:53Z")
The shows are produced daily, well planned and scripted ahead of time, so they will use substitutes if someone calls in sick. In 1968 Joan Crawford stepped in for her daughter Christina on the soap Secret Storm for 5 days while Christina was ill. Alert viewers may have noticed that Joan was in her 60s and her daughter was only 28. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/15 "2021-01-04T02:34:51Z")
I ndo remember an episode in which a guest **did** get killed. For real. He was an ex-soldier who wanted to go out doing something worthwhile, and he helped Roarke rescue other guests were held hostage by invading terrorists. ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/16 "2021-01-04T14:37:13Z")
The Devil showed up on a couple of episodes, as I remember. He was played by Roddy McDowell. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/17 "2021-01-04T16:27:04Z")
Being the mortal servitor of a demigod/ fallen angel/ Prospero is a good job until it isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/18 "2021-01-04T16:29:02Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > The Devil showed up on a couple of episodes, as I remember. You sure he wasn’t actually God? I don’t trust that show,… (I prefer [Haunts of the Very Rich](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunts_of_the_Very_Rich), a made-for-TV movie about a “fantasy island” resort that was not as it seemed. I have always considered that the unofficial pilot for FI.) ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/19 "2021-01-04T16:43:59Z")
^ OMG! Someone else saw that besides me? My condolences. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2021, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370/20 "2021-01-04T16:51:37Z")
> [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](#): > > ^ OMG! Someone else saw that besides me? My condolences. . I remember liking it. The twist, as it were, was new to me back then. I was impressed. I see it is sort of a remake/inspired by the 1930 film Outward Bound. And in the spirit of the obsolete technology (vinyl records) thread, I own it on VHS. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-they-ever-explain-why-tattoo-left-fantasy-island/929370.md?page=2)