Comic Hit By Scandal Dies After Surgery

Eric Cullen, the 4-foot, 4-inch actor whose television career was ruined by convictions for indecency with children, has died. He was 31.

Cullen was admitted to a hospital on Wednesday, and died Friday following surgery to relieve a restricted bowel - a congenital condition related to achondroplasia, or dwarfism.

Cullen contended that he had been a victim of sexual abuse since age 13, and that the more than 100 pornographic video tapes found in his home belonged to one of his abusers. That man is serving a 14-year sentence for sex offenses.

His arrest in 1993 and conviction two years later ended his role on a BBC comedy about down-and-out life in the dismal public housing estates of Glasgow.