According to screenwriter Bill Martin, "Harry" - the friendly "bigfoot" creature in the film Harry and the Hendersons - is named after Harry Nilsson. The film makers modeled the look of the creature after Bill Martin.[1]

 

Harry and the Hendersons

 

Harry and the Hendersons is a 1987 American fantasy comedy film directed and produced by William Dear and starring John Lithgow, Melinda Dillon, Don Ameche, David Suchet, Margaret Langrick, Joshua Rudoy, Lainie Kazan, and Kevin Peter Hall. Steven Spielberg served as its uncredited executive producer, while Rick Baker provided the makeup and the creature designs for Harry. The film tells the story of a Seattle family's encounter with the cryptozoological creature Bigfoot, partially inspired by the numerous claims of sightings in the Pacific Northwest, California, and other parts of both the United States and Canada over three centuries. In conjunction with the film's setting, shooting took place at several locations in the Cascade Range of Washington state near Interstate 90 and the town of Index near US 2, as well as Seattle's Wallingford, Ballard and Beacon Hill neighborhoods and other locations in or around Seattle. Harry and the Hendersons grossed $50 million worldwide. It won an Oscar for Best Makeup at the 60th Academy Awards, and inspired a television spin-off of the same name. In the United Kingdom, the film was originally released as Bigfoot and the Hendersons, though the television series retained the American title. The DVD and all current showings of the film in the UK now refer to the film by its original title.