Sadly on April 21st Verne Troyer, the man who played Mini-Me in two of the Austin Powers movies, has died at the age of 49. On April 6, 2017, Troyer posted on Instagram stating that he has had an alcohol addiction in the past and that he was checking himself into a treatment center to get help. Verne was rushed into the hospital in early April this year with three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. The official reason for death is still unknown, but many believe it was suicide.

Troyer was born in Sturgis, Michigan and was 1 of 3 children. He stated that his parents “never treated me any different than my other average-sized siblings. I used to have to carry wood, feed the cows and pigs and farm animals”. Troyer was originally born into an Amish family, but his parents left the religion when he was still a child.

Troyer’s acting career began when a he did a part as a stunt double for the character “Baby Bink” in the 90s movie Baby’s Day Out . He continued his career working heavily as a stunt double in movies during the mid to late 90s, including Dunston Checks In, Men in Black, Jingle All the Way, and My Giant. Troyer first met with Jay Roach to discuss playing the character Mini-Me in the Austin Powers series. He continued to work with Myers in several other movies.

Myers said in an interview with Jimmy Kimmel “Every day you see him, you go ‘Wow! That is a small human.’ But by the end of the day, you just saw Verne. It just sort of went away … He was part of the cast and fantastic. I miss him.”

He added “As written, Mini-Me is like almost a prop, but he brought it up off the page, made it better than written, and we ended up giving him more and more stuff to do.”

As sad as it is that we have lost a person that has brought many moviegoers joy and laughter. We should be happy he was here and that he lived as long as he did, even with his condition and mental help.