Billy Curtis
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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
Credits
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
as Munchkin (uncredited)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
as Child Ape (uncredited)
High Plains Drifter (1973)
as Mordecai
Hello, Dolly! (1969)
as Little Person (uncredited)
Limelight (1952)
as Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
as Midget
Saboteur (1942)
as Midget - Circus Troupe
Head Office (1985)
as Reverend Lynch
Eating Raoul (1982)
as Little Person
Robin and the 7 Hoods (1964)
as Newsboy
Superman and the Mole Men (1951)
as Mole-Man (uncredited)
Friendly Persuasion (1956)
as Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
Loose Shoes (1978)
as Menchkin
Hellzapoppin' (1941)
as Bodyguard (uncredited)
Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)
as Harry Earles (uncredited)
The Comic (1969)
as Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968)
as Clown (uncredited)
Evil Roy Slade (1972)
as Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
The Hard Way (1943)
as Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)
Princess of the Nile (1954)
as Tut (uncredited)
Backstage Party (1961)
as Self
Lucky Legs (1942)
as Newsboy
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear (1984)
as Elf #2
Two on a Guillotine (1965)
as Big Mike (uncredited)
Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret (1971)
as Man on the Street Interviewee
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1984)
as Barnaby
April Showers (1948)
as Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
Maisie Was a Lady (1941)
as Midget (Uncredited)
The Wild McCullochs (1975)
as Charlie P.
The Terror of Tiny Town (1938)
as The Hero (Buck Lawson)
Norwood (1970)
as Edmund B. Ratner
Little Cigars (1973)
as Slick Bender
Ice-Capades (1941)
as George
Pygmy Island (1950)
as Makuba
Don't Lie (1942)
as Melinda, the chimp
Out of Sight (1966)
as The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
White House Madness (1975)
as Secret Service Man
Three Texas Steers (1939)
as Hercules - the Midget
Emergency Landing (1941)
as Judge
Homicide for Three (1948)
as Circus Performer
Jungle Moon Men (1955)
as Damu
Bob Hope Christmas Show (1965)
as Self
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp! (1942)
as Midget
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour (1986)
as Monsignor Duffy
Buck Privates Come Home (—)
Actor