Ed Gale, the actor who physically brought horror icon Chucky to life in the original Child's Play movie, has died. He was 61.
Gale's death comes while he was under active investigation for allegedly attempting to solicit sex from minors, the Los Angeles Times reported. No cause of death has been made public as of Wednesday.
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In a family statement posted after news of his death broke, relatives said: "It is with a heavy heart and a surprisingly light coffin (see what I did there?) that we announce the sudden passing of our uncle. Ed Gale has taken his final bow and is now headlining in the afterlife."
Police in Los Angeles had reportedly launched an inquiry into the actor earlier this year after he allegedly admitted to engaging in explicit conversations with someone he believed was a teenage boy, and allegedly tried to arrange a meeting. The investigation was still ongoing at the time of his death.
Gale, who had dwarfism and stood at 3 feet 4 inches tall, was born in Michigan and moved to California at 20 with just $41 and dreams of making it in Hollywood.
"Ed hitched a ride to California when he was twenty years old, with $41 and a dream, and he never looked back," his family added. "He lit up the silver screens in cult classic films like Howard the Duck and Chopper Chicks in Zombietown, earning himself some serious street cred at every con he attended. Which he never stopped bragging about. Ever."
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Gale's breakout came in 1986 when he played the lead character in Howard the Duck. Two years later, he became the physical performer behind the killer doll Chucky in the 1988 slasher Child's Play — a role that defined much of his career and secured his status in horror fandom.
Across a career spanning more than 130 credits, Gale appeared in numerous sci-fi and horror projects. He remained a familiar face at fan conventions, where he was known to recount his cult-classic legacy.
Despite his reputation in genre circles, Gale's final years were clouded by the serious allegations that surfaced just months before his death. No additional details have been made public about how he died.
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