# Why so many British Midgets? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 9, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859 "2001-07-09T18:01:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![fandango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b5ac83/32.png) [@fandango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fandango)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/1 "2001-07-09T18:01:46Z")
Can anyone shed a light on this conundrum: Why does it seem that so many ‘Little People’ (dwarfs & midgets) that are seen on television shows and in movies have British accents? Are achrondroplasics more common in Britain? A related question: On a recent documentary concerning people of lesser stature, it was mentioned that royal courts often employed such people. Does anyone know of a concerted effort to–for lack of a better word–breed dwarfs? ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/2 "2001-07-09T19:57:22Z")
I haven’t noticed this myself, here in the UK. I don’t know if it’s relevant, but I think there is a disproportionate number of villains with English accents in Hollywood films. Perhaps Little People prefer not to appear American (isn’t there a rumour that US Presidents have to be tall?). ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2001, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/3 "2001-07-09T22:21:50Z")
Maybe because the MG was a MUCH more popular model than the King … oh, not THAT kind of midget … ---
**Author:** ![Mac\_Guffin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/2bfe46/32.png) [@Mac\_Guffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mac_Guffin)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/4 "2001-07-10T00:30:45Z")
I believe Thalidomide might be one culprit. It seems like most of the brittish midgets you see are all about the same age. Thalidomide was used to treat nausia in pregnant women in Brittan from 1959 to 1961, until it was noticed that the birth defect rate had skyrocketed. [http://www.thalidomide.ca/smithell.htm](http://www.thalidomide.ca/smithell.htm) From that site… > [@](#): > > Short stature, over and above the shortness attributable to short leg bones, is seen more often than would be expected by chance, and is accepted as attributable to thalidomide. and, > [@](#): > > Some of the conditions which have caused problems in the past will not do so in the future because they are associated with perinatal or early childhood death. These include short limbed dwarfism, which should not present diagnostic difficulty (for example, achondrogenesis, thanatophoric dwarfism, severe ostiogenesis imperfecta), and pseudothalidomide syndrome (Roberts syndrome, SC syndrome), an autosomal recessive disorder which includes limb reduction deformities. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/5 "2001-07-10T01:31:27Z")
I don’t believe there are more dwarves per capita in the U.K. than in the U.S. You may get the FEELING there are, because of the KIND of movie or TV show in which you’re most likely to see a dwarf. Movies like “Willow,” “Time Bandits,” “The Wizard of Oz,” etc. Think about it- the movies most likely to hire dwarves are FANTASY films, often based on fairy tales. Dwarves get cast as… well, yes, as dwarves, but also as gnomes, elves, fairies, munchkins, and the like. Such stories are usually based in midieval Europe (not too many kings, queens, wizards or fairy godmothers in the modern USA). Hence, a dwarf with a British accent (Warwick Davis, for instance) has an edge when trying out for a role in a “fairy tale” movie. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/6 "2001-07-10T02:26:10Z")
Well, for starters I’m pretty sure the British aren’t in the habit of drowning dwarves at birth. This will help keep the numbers up. Warwick Davis is a pretty busy actor - the _Leprauchan_ series, _Willow, Gulliver’s Travels_, a _Star Wars_Ewok (the one that jumps up on the rebel planet and yells something like “Eat Yo Mamma!”) and probably a bunch more besides that which makes him seem to be everywhere, and since he has a definite English accent it starts to seem like all the dwarves you see are English. I also think the English tend to give their dwarves more speaking roles - for instance, the dwarf in the _Island of Dr. Moreau_ with Kilmer and Brando has no speaking parts, but I’m pretty sure he’s American. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/7 "2001-07-10T04:15:31Z")
Actually, I had thought it was the Italians who have the monopoly on midgets: Billy Barty (William John Bertanzetti) Angelo Rossitto (50-year+ career. Best known roles: The dwarf who leads the macabre “Gooble Gobble” chant in “Freaks” and “Master” ("the little man with the knowin’s of a lotta things) in “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.” Jery Maren (Gerald Marenghi) (“We represent the Lollipop Guild. . .”) Phil Fondacaro is the latest “Italian-little-person-at-large.” ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/8 "2001-07-10T05:06:02Z")
Because they are such cleaver little fuckers 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2001, 7:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-so-many-british-midgets/71859/9 "2001-07-10T07:51:52Z")
My guess would be the British tradition of Pantomime. Snow White is a popular panto, so there would be an annual demand for dwarf actors. (I vaguely recall news reports of a shortage a few years back, when several productions of Snow White were put on in the same season). So there could well be a higher proportion of British dwarf actors, and since panto is seasonal, there would be a ready supply.