Michael J. Pollard (born May 30, 1939) is an American actor.
Pollard was born Michael John Pollack, Jr. in Passaic, New Jersey, the son of Sonia (née Dubanowich) and Michael John Pollack.[1] He attended the Montclair Academy and the Actors Studio.[2]
Pollard played the character C. W. Moss in the film Bonnie and Clyde, for which he received Academy Award and Golden Globe Award nominations for Best Supporting Actor and won a British Academy Film Award for Most Promising Newcomer to Leading Film Roles.
Pollard also created the non-singing role of Hugo Peabody in the Original Broadway cast of the 1960 smash hit musical comedy Bye Bye Birdie (lyrics by Lee Adams and music by Charles Strouse). Hugo is a high-school student, boyfriend of Kim McAfee (played by Susan Watson on Broadway), who becomes jealous of Kim's infatuation with rock star Conrad Birdie. However, in the 1963 film version, Hugo became a singing role and was played by Bobby Rydell.
In 1962, he appeared in the short-lived Robert Young comedy and drama series Window on Main Street on CBS in a episode entitled "The Boy Who Got Too Many Laughs".[3]
Pollard is noted for his short stature, which had him playing child roles well into his twenties (including on Star Trek, where he played one of the inhabitants of the planet of children in the episode "Miri") and resulted in a recurring role as the diminutive trans-dimensional imp Mister Mxyzptlk in two episodes of the Superboy television series. He also appeared in a memorable first season episode of Irwin Allen's Lost In Space series as a mysterious boy who lives on the other side of all mirrors. Adept at comic roles with an odd edge, he had a stand-out bit part in the classic Norman Jewison Cold War comedy The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming. He also played Packy in Hannibal Brooks.
Pollard appeared in episode #2-30 of The Andy Griffith Show which originally aired on April 30, 1962, as Barney Fife's clumsy young cousin, Virgil, who stops by for a visit and manages to wreak havoc at the courthouse.
Actor Michael J. Fox has stated that he adopted the J. in his name as a homage to Pollard.[4]
He suggested the title "The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" for the Traffic song of the same name.[5]
He also starred in the film Dirty Little Billy, which portrayed Billy the Kid at the beginning of his criminal career, set in Coffeyville, Kansas.
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