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Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Birthday
June 27, 1909
Died
November 9, 1988
Place of Birth
Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
Also Known As
- Luigi Curto
Billy Curtis
1.1 Popularity
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
0.0
Monsignor Duffy
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour
1986
7.8
Creature (segment "Personal Demons")
The Twilight Zone
1985
5.1
Reverend Lynch
Head Office
1985
5.6
Elf #2
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
1984
6.0
Barnaby
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1984
8.1
Barnaby
Faerie Tale Theatre
1982
6.4
Little Person
Eating Raoul
1982
6.7
Billy Curtis
Knots Landing
1979
7.0
General Yoomak
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
1979
3.6
Menchkin
Loose Shoes
1978
Credits
Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour
as Monsignor Duffy
1986
0.0
The Twilight Zone
as Creature (segment "Personal Demons")
1985
7.8
Head Office
as Reverend Lynch
1985
5.1
It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
as Elf #2
1984
5.6
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
as Barnaby
1984
6.0
Faerie Tale Theatre
as Barnaby
1982
8.1
Eating Raoul
as Little Person
1982
6.4
Knots Landing
as Billy Curtis
1979
6.7
Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
as General Yoomak
1979
7.0
Loose Shoes
as Menchkin
1978
3.6
Monster Squad
as The Ringmaster
1976
5.3
Laverne & Shirley
1976
7.2
The Wild McCullochs
as Charlie P.
1975
3.7
White House Madness
as Secret Service Man
1975
0.0
Little Cigars
as Slick Bender
1973
4.6
High Plains Drifter
as Mordecai
1973
7.3
Evil Roy Slade
as Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
1972
6.2
Aphrodisiac: The Love Secret
as Man on the Street Interviewee
1971
4.5
Norwood
as Edmund B. Ratner
1970
5.6
Hello, Dolly!
as Little Person (uncredited)
1969
7.0
The Comic
as Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
1969
5.9
Here's Lucy
as Herman
1968
6.7
The Legend of Lylah Clare
as Clown (uncredited)
1968
5.9
Planet of the Apes
as Child Ape (uncredited)
1968
7.6
The Monkees
as Midget
1966
6.5
Star Trek
as Small, copper skinned ambassador (uncredited)
1966
8.0
Out of Sight
as The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
1966
4.8
Batman
as Midget
1966
7.3
🎬
Bob Hope Christmas Show
as Self
1965
0.0
Two on a Guillotine
as Big Mike (uncredited)
1965
6.1
Bewitched
as Jack O'Lantern
1964
7.9
Robin and the 7 Hoods
as Newsboy
1964
6.1
🎬
The Greatest Show on Earth
1963
5.0
The Beverly Hillbillies
1962
6.9
Backstage Party
as Self
1961
7.0
87th Precinct
1961
7.5
Adventures in Paradise
as Captain Borcher
1959
5.7
Tightrope
1959
5.5
77 Sunset Strip
1958
6.7
Shirley Temple's Storybook
as Boomalakka Wee
1958
6.2
Shirley Temple's Storybook
as Dwarf
1958
6.2
Man of a Thousand Faces
as Harry Earles (uncredited)
1957
6.6
The Incredible Shrinking Man
as Midget
1957
7.5
Friendly Persuasion
as Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
1956
6.7
Gunsmoke
as Arizona
1955
6.6
Jungle Moon Men
as Damu
1955
4.7
Princess of the Nile
as Tut (uncredited)
1954
7.1
Limelight
as Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
1952
7.9
This Is Your Life
as Self
1952
6.4
Adventures of Superman
1952
6.6
Adventures of Superman
as Mole-Man #1 (uncredited)
1952
6.6
Superman and the Mole Men
as Mole-Man (uncredited)
1951
5.3
Pygmy Island
as Makuba
1950
4.0
🎬
The Cisco Kid
as The Laughing Badman
1950
5.9
Homicide for Three
as Circus Performer
1948
5.0
April Showers
as Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
1948
6.0
Buck Privates Come Home
1947
6.3
The Hard Way
as Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)
1943
6.3
Lucky Legs
as Newsboy
1942
0.0
Saboteur
as Midget - Circus Troupe
1942
6.9
Don't Lie
as Melinda, the chimp
1942
6.5
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!
as Midget
1942
3.5
Hellzapoppin'
as Bodyguard (uncredited)
1941
7.2
Ice-Capades
as George
1941
5.5
Emergency Landing
as Judge
1941
5.8
Maisie Was a Lady
as Midget (Uncredited)
1941
6.8
The Wizard of Oz
as Munchkin (uncredited)
1939
7.6
Three Texas Steers
as Hercules - the Midget
1939
4.9
The Terror of Tiny Town
as The Hero (Buck Lawson)
1938
3.4