
Billy Curtis
Personal Info
Known for
Acting
Gender
Male
Birthday
1909-06-27
Day of Death
1988-11-09 (79 years old)
Place of Birth
Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
Billy Curtis
Biography
Billy Curtis (June 27, 1909 - November 9, 1988) was an American film and television actor. He was a dwarf who had a 50-year career in a variety of roles. He was born on 27 June 1909 in Springfield, Massachusetts, and died November 9, 1988 in Dayton, Nevada, of a heart attack. According to the IMDb site, his birth name was Luigi Curto, and his height was 4 feet 2 inches (1.27 m). The bulk of his work was in the western and science fiction genres. One of his early jobs was as one of the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. He also appeared in Adventures of Superman in the 1950s. Most notably, Curtis worked in westerns, including the Clint Eastwood feature, High Plains Drifter in which he featured as Mordecai, a friendly dwarf sympathetic to Eastwood, he also appeared in the 1938 Musical/Western The Terror of Tiny Town. This film is, as far as is known, the world's only Western with an all-dwarf cast. Many of the actors in Tinytown were part of a performing troupe called Singer's Midgets, who also played Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz, released in 1939. He also had a starring role in American International Pictures' 1973 release, Little Cigars, about a gang of "midgets" on a crime spree.
Known For
Acting
(1986)
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour
as Monsignor Duffy
(1985)
Head Office
as Reverend Lynch
(1984)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
as Barnaby
(1982)
Eating Raoul
as Little Person
(1978)
Loose Shoes
as Menchkin
(1975)
The Wild McCullochs
as Charlie P.
(1975)
White House Madness
as Secret Service Man
(1973)
High Plains Drifter
as Mordecai
(1973)
Little Cigars
as Slick Bender
(1972)
Evil Roy Slade
as Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
(1971)
Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret
as Man on the Street Interviewee
(1970)
Norwood
as Edmund B. Ratner
(1969)
Hello, Dolly!
as Little Person (uncredited)
(1969)
The Comic
as Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
(1968)
Planet of the Apes
as Child Ape (uncredited)
(1968)
The Legend of Lylah Clare
as Clown (uncredited)
(1966)
Out of Sight
as The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
(1965)
Two on a Guillotine
as Big Mike (uncredited)
(1965)
Bob Hope Christmas Show
as Self
(1964)
Robin and the 7 Hoods
as Newsboy
(1961)
Backstage Party
as Self
(1958)
The Adventures of Super Pup
as Super Pup / Bark Bent
(1957)
The Incredible Shrinking Man
as Midget
(1957)
Man of a Thousand Faces
as Harry Earles (uncredited)
(1956)
Friendly Persuasion
as Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
(1955)
Jungle Moon Men
as Damu
(1954)
Princess of the Nile
as Tut (uncredited)
(1952)
Limelight
as Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
(1951)
Superman and the Mole Men
as Mole-Man (uncredited)
(1950)
Pygmy Island
as Makuba
(1948)
April Showers
as Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
(1948)
Homicide for Three
as Circus Performer
(1947)
(1943)
The Hard Way
as Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)
(1942)
Saboteur
as Midget - Circus Troupe
(1942)
Lucky Legs
as Newsboy
(1942)
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!
as Midget
(1942)
Don't Lie
as Melinda, the chimp
(1941)
Hellzapoppin'
as Bodyguard (uncredited)
(1941)
Emergency Landing
as Judge
(1941)
Maisie Was a Lady
as Midget (Uncredited)
(1941)
Ice-Capades
as George
(1939)
The Wizard of Oz
as Munchkin (uncredited)
(1939)
Three Texas Steers
as Hercules - the Midget
(1938)
The Terror of Tiny Town
as The Hero (Buck Lawson)
Crew
(1971)
Dirty Harry
Stunts