
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.
Filmografi
The Wizard of Oz1939 · Munchkin (uncredited)
Planet of the Apes1968 · Child Ape (uncredited)
High Plains Drifter1973 · Mordecai
Limelight1952 · Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
Backstage Party1961 · Self
Robin and the 7 Hoods1964 · Newsboy (uncredited)
Hello, Dolly!1969 · Little Person (uncredited)
The Incredible Shrinking Man1957 · Midget
Saboteur1942 · Midget - Circus Troupe
Head Office1985 · Reverend Lynch
Aphrodisiac!: The Sexual Secret of Marijuana1971 · Man on the Street Interviewee
Friendly Persuasion1956 · Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
Princess of the Nile1954 · Tut (uncredited)
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear1984 · Elf #2
Superman and the Mole Men1951 · Mole-Man (uncredited)
Eating Raoul1982 · Little Person
Man of a Thousand Faces1957 · Harry Earles (uncredited)
Hellzapoppin'1941 · Bodyguard (uncredited)
The Legend of Lylah Clare1968 · Clown (uncredited)
Buck Privates Come Home1947 ·
Evil Roy Slade1972 · Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
Two on a Guillotine1965 · Big Mike (uncredited)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs1984 · Barnaby
The Comic1969 · Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
Ray Bolger
Kenner G. Kemp
Jerry Maren
George Nardelli
Clint Eastwood
Roddy McDowall
Peter Falk
Charlie Chaplin
Walt Disney
Geraldine Chaplin
Charlton Heston
Kim Hunter