Billy Curtis
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.
Filmography · 66
Star Trek
1966 · Small, copper skinned...
Batman
1966 · Midget
Bewitched
1964 · Jack O'Lantern
Knots Landing
1979 · Billy Curtis
Get Smart
1965 · El Lobo-Ito
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962
Gunsmoke
1955 · Arizona
The Wizard of Oz
1939 · Munchkin (uncredited)
The Twilight Zone
1985 · Creature (segment "Per...
Adventures of Superman
1952
Laverne & Shirley
1976
Here's Lucy
1968 · Herman
Planet of the Apes
1968 · Child Ape (uncredited)
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
1979 · General Yoomak
77 Sunset Strip
1958
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982 · Barnaby
Adventures in Paradise
1959 · Captain Borcher
This Is Your Life
1952 · Self
The Monkees
1966 · Midget
Shirley Temple's Storybook
1958 · Boomalakka Wee
The Cisco Kid
1950 · The Laughing Badman
87th Precinct
1961
High Plains Drifter
1973 · Mordecai
Tightrope
1959
Hello, Dolly!
1969 · Little Person (uncredi...
Monster Squad
1976 · The Ringmaster
Limelight
1952 · Midget in Agent's Offi...
The Incredible Shrinking Man
1957 · Midget
Robin and the 7 Hoods
1964 · Newsboy (uncredited)
Friendly Persuasion
1956 · Midget at County Fair...
The Legend of Lylah Clare
1968 · Clown (uncredited)
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
1984 · Elf #2
Head Office
1985 · Reverend Lynch
Saboteur
1942 · Midget - Circus Troupe
Man of a Thousand Faces
1957 · Harry Earles (uncredit...
Hellzapoppin'
1941 · Bodyguard (uncredited)
Superman and the Mole Men
1951 · Mole-Man (uncredited)
Backstage Party
1961 · Self
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1984 · Barnaby
Princess of the Nile
1954 · Tut (uncredited)
The Hard Way
1943 · Vaudeville Midget (Unc...
Evil Roy Slade
1972 · Toy Cowboy (uncredited...
Buck Privates Come Home
1947
The Comic
1969 · Lifeguard in Film (unc...
Eating Raoul
1982 · Little Person
Two on a Guillotine
1965 · Big Mike (uncredited)
Maisie Was a Lady
1941 · Midget (Uncredited)
Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret
1971 · Man on the Street Inte...
Pygmy Island
1950 · Makuba
Out of Sight
1966 · The Man From F.L.U.S.H...
Lucky Legs
1942 · Newsboy
Loose Shoes
1978 · Menchkin
April Showers
1948 · Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
The Terror of Tiny Town
1938 · The Hero (Buck Lawson)
Emergency Landing
1941 · Judge
Ice-Capades
1941 · George
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!
1942 · Midget
Norwood
1970 · Edmund B. Ratner
Little Cigars
1973 · Slick Bender
Three Texas Steers
1939 · Hercules - the Midget
The Wild McCullochs
1975 · Charlie P.
Jungle Moon Men
1955 · Damu
Homicide for Three
1948 · Circus Performer
White House Madness
1975 · Secret Service Man
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour
1986 · Monsignor Duffy
Don't Lie
1942 · Melinda, the chimp