Billy Curtis
44 movies · 22 TV shows
- Known for
- Acting
- Born
- Jun 27, 1909
- Died
- Nov 9, 1988 (age 79)
- Place of birth
- Springfield, Massachusetts, USA
- Also known as
- Luigi Curto
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.
Profiles IMDb
Known for
Billy Curtis: movies and TV shows
Acting (65)
- 1986 Father Guido Sarducci's Vatican Inquirer: The Pope's Tour
as Monsignor Duffy
- 1985
- 1985 Head Office
as Reverend Lynch
- 1984 It Came Upon the Midnight Clear
as Elf #2
- 1984 Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
as Barnaby
- 1982
- 1982 Eating Raoul
as Little Person
- 1979
- 1979
- 1978 Loose Shoes
as Menchkin
- 1976
- 1976
- 1975 The Wild McCullochs
as Charlie P.
- 1975 White House Madness
as Secret Service Man
- 1973 Little Cigars
as Slick Bender
- 1973 High Plains Drifter
as Mordecai
- 1972 Evil Roy Slade
as Toy Cowboy (uncredited)
- 1971 Aphrodisiac!: The Sexual Secret of Marijuana
as Man on the Street Interviewee
- 1970 Norwood
as Edmund B. Ratner
- 1969 Hello, Dolly!
as Little Person (uncredited)
- 1969 The Comic
as Lifeguard in Film (uncredited)
- 1968
- 1968 The Legend of Lylah Clare
as Clown (uncredited)
- 1968 Planet of the Apes
as Child Ape (uncredited)
- 1966
- 1966
- 1966 Out of Sight
as The Man From F.L.U.S.H.
- 1966
- 1965
- 1965 Two on a Guillotine
as Big Mike (uncredited)
- 1964
- 1964 Robin and the 7 Hoods
as Newsboy (uncredited)
- 1963
- 1962
- 1961
- 1959
- 1959
- 1958
- 1958
- 1957 Man of a Thousand Faces
as Harry Earles (uncredited)
- 1957 The Incredible Shrinking Man
as Midget
- 1956 Friendly Persuasion
as Midget at County Fair (uncredited)
- 1955
- 1955 Jungle Moon Men
as Damu
- 1954 Princess of the Nile
as Tut (uncredited)
- 1952 Limelight
as Midget in Agent's Office (uncredited)
- 1952
- 1951 Superman and the Mole Men
as Mole-Man (uncredited)
- 1950 Pygmy Island
as Makuba
- 1950
- 1948 Homicide for Three
as Circus Performer
- 1948 April Showers
as Capt. Rudolph L. Nemo
- 1947
- 1943 The Hard Way
as Vaudeville Midget (Uncredited)
- 1942 Lucky Legs
as Newsboy
- 1942 Saboteur
as Midget - Circus Troupe
- 1942 Don't Lie
as Melinda, the chimp
- 1942 Tramp, Tramp, Tramp!
as Midget
- 1941 Hellzapoppin'
as Bodyguard (uncredited)
- 1941 Ice-Capades
as George
- 1941 Emergency Landing
as Judge
- 1941 Maisie Was a Lady
as Midget (Uncredited)
- 1939 The Wizard of Oz
as Munchkin (uncredited)
- 1939 Three Texas Steers
as Hercules - the Midget
- 1938 The Terror of Tiny Town
as The Hero (Buck Lawson)
Behind the camera (1)
- 1971 Dirty Harry
Stunts
Talk shows and appearances (4)
- 1965
- 1961
- 1952 This Is Your Life
1 episode
- 1950 The Bob Hope Show
1 episode