Name
Billy Curtis
Known For
Acting
Birthday
1909-06-27
Deathday
1988-11-09 (79 years old)
Place of Birth
Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
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
7.583
Young Dorothy finds herself in a magical world where she makes friends with a lion, a scar...
7.455
When a madman dubbed 'Scorpio' terrorizes San Francisco, hard-nosed cop, Harry Callahan â€...
7.329
A gunfighting stranger comes to the small settlement of Lago. After gunning down three gun...
6.978
Dolly Levi is a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to see ...
7.48
A dangerous combination of radiation and insecticide causes the unfortunate Scott Carey to...
6.204
Set in Prohibition era Chicago, bootlegger Robbo and his cronies refuse to pay the greedy ...
6.645
The story of a family of Quakers in Indiana in 1862. Their religious sect is strongly oppo...
- 1957 The Incredible Shrinking Man as Midget
- 1973 High Plains Drifter as Mordecai
- 1938 The Terror of Tiny Town as The Hero (Buck Lawson)
- 1982 Eating Raoul as Little Person
- 1951 Superman and the Mole Men as Mole-Man (uncredited)
- 1950 Pygmy Island as Makuba
- 1973 Little Cigars as Slick Bender
- 1948 Homicide for Three as Circus Performer
- 1975 White House Madness as Secret Service Man
- 1941 Emergency Landing as Judge
- 1971 Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret as Man on the Street Interviewee
- 1954 Princess of the Nile as Tut (uncredited)
- 1939 The Wizard of Oz as Munchkin (uncredited)
- 1966 Out of Sight as The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
- 1964 Robin and the 7 Hoods as Newsboy (uncredited)
- 1975 The Wild McCullochs as Charlie P.
- 1969 Hello, Dolly! as Little Person (uncredited)
- 1939 Three Texas Steers as Hercules - the Midget
- 1955 Jungle Moon Men as Damu
- 1942 Don't Lie as Melinda, the chimp
- 1972 Evil Roy Slade as Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
- 1968 Planet of the Apes as Child Ape (uncredited)
- 1948 April Showers as Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
- 1947 Buck Privates Come Home
- 1952 Limelight as Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
- 1942 Tramp, Tramp, Tramp! as Midget
- 1986 Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour as Monsignor Duffy
- 1956 Friendly Persuasion as Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
- 1970 Norwood as Edmund B. Ratner
- 1942 Lucky Legs as Newsboy
- 1942 Saboteur as Midget - Circus Troupe
- 1984 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs as Barnaby
- 1941 Ice-Capades as George
- 1978 Loose Shoes as Menchkin
- 1941 Hellzapoppin' as Bodyguard (uncredited)
- 1957 Man of a Thousand Faces as Harry Earles (uncredited)
- 1943 The Hard Way as Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)
- 1985 Head Office as Reverend Lynch
- 1961 Backstage Party as Self
- 1941 Maisie Was a Lady as Midget (Uncredited)
- 1965 Bob Hope Christmas Show as Self
- 1968 The Legend of Lylah Clare as Clown (uncredited)
- 1965 Two on a Guillotine as Big Mike (uncredited)
- 1969 The Comic as Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
- 1984 It Came Upon the Midnight Clear as Elf #2
- 1966 Star Trek ( 1 episode ) as Small, copper skinned ambassador (uncredited)
- 1958 77 Sunset Strip ( 1 episode )
- 1968 Here's Lucy ( 1 episode ) as Herman
- 1966 Batman ( 2 episodes ) as Midget
- 1985 The Twilight Zone ( 1 episode ) as Creature (segment "Personal Demons")
- 1962 The Beverly Hillbillies ( 0 episode )
- 1979 Buck Rogers in the 25th Century ( 1 episode ) as General Yoomak
- 1979 Knots Landing ( 1 episode ) as Billy Curtis
- 1976 Laverne & Shirley ( 1 episode )
- 1976 Monster Squad ( 1 episode ) as The Ringmaster
- 1955 Gunsmoke ( 1 episode ) as Arizona
- 1964 Bewitched ( 1 episode ) as Jack O'Lantern
- 1961 87th Precinct ( 1 episode )
- 1966 The Monkees ( 1 episode ) as Midget
- 1963 The Greatest Show on Earth ( 3 episodes )
- 1952 This Is Your Life ( 1 episode ) as Self
- 1952 Adventures of Superman ( 1 episode )
- 1959 Adventures in Paradise ( 1 episode ) as Captain Borcher
- 1959 Tightrope ( 1 episode )
- 1982 Faerie Tale Theatre ( 1 episode ) as Barnaby
- 1958 Shirley Temple's Storybook ( 1 episode ) as Boomalakka Wee
- 1958 Shirley Temple's Storybook ( 1 episode ) as Dwarf
- 1952 Adventures of Superman ( 2 episodes ) as Mole-Man #1 (uncredited)
- 1950 The Cisco Kid ( 1 episode ) as The Laughing Badman
- 1965 Get Smart ( 1 episode ) as El Lobo-Ito
- 1965 Get Smart ( 1 episode ) as Tiny Allen (uncredited)
- 1950 The Bob Hope Show ( 1 episode ) as Self - Santa's Elf (uncredited)
