1909-06-27 Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
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.
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Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour | Monsignor Duffy | 1986-10-18 |
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Head Office | Reverend Lynch | 1985-06-06 |
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Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs | Barnaby | 1984-07-16 |
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Eating Raoul | Little Person | 1982-03-24 |
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Loose Shoes | Menchkin | 1978-09-01 |
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The Wild McCullochs | Charlie P. | 1975-05-21 |
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White House Madness | Secret Service Man | 1975-01-01 |
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Little Cigars | Slick Bender | 1973-06-22 |
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High Plains Drifter | Mordecai | 1973-04-19 |
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Evil Roy Slade | Toy Cowboy (uncredited) | 1972-02-18 |
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Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret | Man on the Street Interviewee | 1971-11-05 |
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Norwood | Edmund B. Ratner | 1970-11-24 |
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Hello, Dolly! | Little Person (uncredited) | 1969-12-12 |
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The Legend of Lylah Clare | Clown (uncredited) | 1968-08-21 |
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Planet of the Apes | Child Ape (uncredited) | 1968-02-07 |
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Out of Sight | The Man From F.L.U.S.H. | 1966-05-12 |
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Bob Hope Christmas Show | Self | 1965-12-15 |
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Two on a Guillotine | Big Mike (uncredited) | 1965-01-13 |
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Robin and the 7 Hoods | Newsboy | 1964-06-24 |
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Backstage Party | Self | 1961-12-17 |
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The Adventures of Super Pup | Super Pup / Bark Bent | 1958-01-01 |
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The Incredible Shrinking Man | Midget | 1957-02-22 |
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Man of a Thousand Faces | Harry Earles (uncredited) | 1957-08-15 |
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Friendly Persuasion | Midget at County Fair (uncredited) | 1956-11-25 |
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Jungle Moon Men | Damu | 1955-04-08 |
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Princess of the Nile | Tut (uncredited) | 1954-07-01 |
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Limelight | Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited) | 1952-10-23 |
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Superman and the Mole Men | Mole-Man (uncredited) | 1951-11-23 |
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Pygmy Island | Makuba | 1950-11-22 |
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Homicide for Three | Circus Performer | 1948-12-08 |
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April Showers | Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo | 1948-03-27 |
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Buck Privates Come Home | 1947-04-04 | |
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The Hard Way | Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited) | 1943-01-13 |
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Tramp, Tramp, Tramp! | Midget | 1942-04-02 |
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Don't Lie | Melinda, the chimp | 1942-04-04 |
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Lucky Legs | Newsboy | 1942-10-01 |
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Saboteur | Midget - Circus Troupe | 1942-04-24 |
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Maisie Was a Lady | Midget (Uncredited) | 1941-01-10 |
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Emergency Landing | Judge | 1941-03-07 |
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Hellzapoppin' | Bodyguard (uncredited) | 1941-12-25 |
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Ice-Capades | George | 1941-08-19 |
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Three Texas Steers | Hercules - the Midget | 1939-05-12 |
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The Wizard of Oz | Munchkin (uncredited) | 1939-08-15 |
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The Terror of Tiny Town | The Hero (Buck Lawson) | 1938-12-01 |
