Paul Fusco
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paul Fusco (born January 29, 1953 in New Haven, Connecticut) is an American voice actor who is best known as the voice, creator, and puppeteer of ALF. He is also Vice President of Alien Productions.
[edit] Biography
Around the late 1970's he worked in the audio visual department of a high school where his interest in television and film began. His early career included a stint performing on a local childrens' TV show and various other work including both audio visual and stage magic/ventriloquism.
In the early 1980's he met puppet builders and fellow puppeteers Bob Fappiano and Lisa Buckley who were both embarking on careers within the TV industry and they joined his team. Together they made various TV specials for HBO, Showtime and others including "The Crown Of Bogg" and "The Valentine's Day That Almost Wasn't".
Around 1985 Paul came up with the idea of ALF using an alien character that was hanging around his house and annoying his family. He decided ALF needed a show and took him to agents and producers to try and get a deal. The agent he met, Bernie Brillstein introduced him to TV/Movie writer Tom Patchett, and together they came up with the idea of a sitcom. After rejecting an offer from Disney to buy the character and show concept outright they pitched to NBC's Brandon Tartikoff who loved the idea and commissioned the show. "ALF" was a huge success, beginning in 1986 and lasting four seasons - 102 episodes in all.
A cartoon show "ALF The Animated Series" (set on Melmac) and later "ALF Tales" (which retold classic fairy stories with twisted themes) also aired on NBC towards the end of the live action sitcom which Paul also created and produced. The cartoons portrayed Gordon Shumway (ALF) and family in their days on Melmac before the planet blew up. The animation was introduced by and often also concluded by a present day live action ALF reading viewers letters and telling stories about life back home.
"Spacecats", a Paul Fusco produced show (which didn't feature ALF) also ran on NBC during the early 1990's which was a mix between live action puppetry and animation. The episodes would begin with the live action puppetry where "Captain Catgut", the leader of the Spacecats, would receive a mission briefing about the trouble at hand in the epiosde. Fusco provided the voice of Captain Catgut. It was cancelled after just 13 episodes when NBC withdrew it's commitment to kids shows on Saturday mornings.
Many ALF fans had wondered what was to become of ALF after the series finale of the sitcom. In 1995/1996 viewers saw what happened to ALF after the cliffhanger end of the NBC sitcom when a TV movie aired on ABC called "Project:ALF" co-starring Martin Sheen which Paul produced through his newly established production company, "Paul Fusco Productions".
From 1996-2001 ALF (assisted by Paul) made many guest appearances on TV including "The Cindy Margolis Show", "Talk Soup" and "Love Boat - The Next Wave". From then on ALF was firmly on the comeback trail appearing on NBC's 75th Anniversary Show and the TV Land Awards 2003. During 2004 he revived his guest spot on "Hollywood Squares" appearing many times and had also signed a deal with phone company 10-10-220 to be "spokesalien" in their commercials. ALF merchandise returned with posters, figures, t-shirts and DVD's being produced as part of a major new licensing deal.
2003-2004 also saw Paul create, produce and perform in "ALF's Hit Talk Show", a brand new series for TV Land. The show was a mix of celebrity chat and funny skits filmed in front of a live studio audience from Hollywood's Sunset Boulevard. One season was taped featuring guest stars including Henry Winkler and Drew Carey.
Between 2004-2006 all four seasons of the ALF sitcom were released on DVD, featuring new appearances by ALF as he hosted the menus on each disc. Extra material also included the rare unaired pilot episode as an addition to the one that ended up as the shows first episode.
September 2006 marked the 20th anniversary of ALF's first American airing. According to the commentary on the Canadian "ALF Files" DVD there are tentative plans for a new ALF movie set on Melmac and there may also be plans for more talk show episodes in some form.
Paul lives with his wife Linda, son Christopher.
